Ben David as well as reenacted the grisly homicide for investigators, according to authorities and the two unnamed minors admitted to the offense. Sentences in the trial are expected on January 13.
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The current wave of violence was sparked by strife over the flashpoint site of the al-Aqsa mosque in east Jerusalem, holy to both Jews and Muslims, and quickly spread to outbursts of violence throughout the country and Palestinian territories.
In their ruling, the judges found that Khdair appears to have been targeted at random as he stood on a road in the Shufat district of East Jerusalem. He was bundled into a vehicle near his home, beaten unconscious, driven to a nearby forest and burned alive by Ben-David and two minors.
The convicted teenagers, whose names have not been released, and Yosef Haim Ben David, were charged with Abu Khdair’s murder.
Zaban found that the two young accomplices doused Muhammad with gasoline and that Ben David lit the match.
Israel immediately blamed the kidnappings on militants from Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls Gaza, rounding up hundreds of suspected members in the West Bank. “EU-Israel relations are good, broad and deep and this will continue”, her spokeswoman said at a Brussels press briefing.
The war killed more than 2,200 people, making 2014 the bloodiest year of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to the United Nations.
It caused the deaths of more than 2 100 Palestinians, mostly civilians, while Israel counted 73 dead on its side, mostly soldiers. There is no schedule for Ben David pending the court’s review of the psychiatric opinion of his insanity plea.
“None of the Israeli psychiatrists would write a report for Ben David, the defence tried to pay a lawyer from overseas but the judge initially refused”. An earlier similar plea was rejected by a Jerusalem court as the judge then said there was no evidence for insanity.
Israel has a mandatory life sentence for adults convicted of murder.
Prosecutor Uri Corb said the case was a stain on Israeli society.
During the trial, Abu Khdair’s father, Hussein, said Mr Ben David was trying to mislead the court. The two minors found guilty say they were involved only in the abduction of Abu Khdeir, not the killing.
“It is important to make clear that Israel is maintaining diplomatic talks with individual European states – such as Germany, Britain and France – but not with the institutions of the European Union”, it said.
In the first attack on Sunday morning, an Israeli border police officer suffered light to moderate wounds amid a stabbing attack close to the Damascus Gate, the entry to the Old City of Jerusalem, in the east part of town, which Israel occupied during the 1967 Mideast War.
Israel says the violence stems from Palestinian incitement and incendiary videos on social media.
“When we try to claim that we are better than our enemies – and I think that we are better than them – we should look at this event as a mirror”, he said.
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An Israeli police statement said that officers fired at a Palestinian holding a petrol bomb in the Ras al-Amud neighborhood after they came under attack from a volley of the missiles, but they could not confirm hitting him.
