The Palestinians and Israeli human rights group charge this move constitutes collective punishment.
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Ben-David apologized in court for his actions – “after an attorney from the prosecution noted that he hadn’t expressed remorse”, Haaretz reports.
Although Trump has been consistent in his support for Israel, his latest statements contradict what the Republican candidate had said just a few weeks ago: that if elected president, he would remain “neutral” on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The incidents contributed to the Israel-Gaza conflict of 2014 which went on for 51 days. On Monday, a Palestinian teenager stabbed and injured an elderly Israeli in Jerusalem’s Old City.
In February, a court sentenced his two young Israeli accomplices to life and 21 years in prison for the killing, but Ben-David was seen to be the ringleader.
Earlier, Ben David had told the court that he wanted to apologise.
Jewish gang leader Yosef Haim Ben-David convicted of murdering the teenager in 2014.
Ben-David’s lawyers submitted last-minute documents that claimed he suffered from mental illness, and his conviction was put on hold while the court decided on his sanity plea.
Ben-David also faked mental illness in an attempt to avoid prison time, but was found to be mentally sound by multiple psychological examinations.
The teen’s burned body was found hours later in a vacant lot in another part of the city, in a forest that now stands in the ruins of the village of Deir Yassin, in which Israeli forces committed a massacre of 128 Palestinian civilians in 1948, during the creation of the state of Israel. In recent years, however, the soldiers have been replaced by private Israeli security guards who roam the area in khaki shirts and dark glasses, armed with assault rifles.
Israeli authorities have not released the names of the convicted Israeli teenagers.
The number of liberal Democrats sympathizing more with the Palestinians has almost doubled over the past two years, from 21 to 40 percent.
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Scores of journalists gathered in front of the United Nations headquarters in Gaza City today to mark World Press Freedom Day, calling for an end to Israeli violations of the Palestinian press, particularly in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem.
