A court in Jerusalem has given life sentence to a Jewish gang leader, Yosef Haim Ben-David, for killing a Palestinian teenager named Mohammed Abu Khdeir in 2014.
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Yosef Haim Ben-David was convicted for Abu Khdeir’s murder last month.
The murder of Mohammad Abu Khdeir sparked worldwide condemnation and protests throughout Jerusalem that lasted for months.
Ben-David, wearing a burgundy yarmulke and a black shirt, had earlier told the court he was sorry. Militants in Gaza have fired thousands of rockets at Israel over the years. One received a life sentence, the other 21 years.
The Jerusalem District Court handed Ben David a life sentence plus 20 years for other crimes on Tuesday, and ordered him to pay 150,000 shekels ($40,000; £27,000) to the victim’s family.
Prosecutors said Ben-David had planned the crime, while the two minors, who have since turned 18, helped him.
According to media reports, this was a revenge attack for the murders of three Israeli teenagers Naftali Frenkel, Gilad Shaer and Eyal Yifrach.
Reflecting on incumbent President Barack Obama’s policies on Israel, in a recent interview with the Daily Mail Trump said: “I think President Obama has been extremely bad to Israel”. After the sentencing, Hussein Abu Khdeir, father of the murdered teen, said he wants to “see him die in prison”.
A member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) executive committee said the committee will convene later Wednesday to discuss the measures to limit ties with Israel, including cutting security coordination.
The defendants said they carried out the murder to avenge the killing of three Israeli teens who were abducted and killed in the West Bank earlier that summer.
The two youths then beat the Palestinian unconscious in the back of a vehicle being driven by Ben David. The violence escalated into the 50 -day Gaza war.
An Israeli man has been sentenced to life in prison for murdering a Palestinian teenager.
A Palestinian young man was shot and killed Tuesday evening by Israeli gunfire after he allegedly rammed his auto into a group of Israeli soldiers near the illegal settlement of Dolev in Ramallah, injuring three of them.
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Attorneys for the family also are demanding that Ben-David’s family home be demolished as part of his punishment, just as the homes of Palestinian attackers are often leveled by Israeli forces.
