Two Jewish teenagers were found guilty of murder by an Israeli court Monday for their roles in the kidnapping and killing of Muhammad Abu Khdeir, a Palestinian 16-year-old who was bludgeoned with a wrench and burned to death in a Jerusalem forest in July 2014.
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Abu Khdeir was a 16-year old Palestinian from Jerusalem whose killing sparked months of unrest across the holy city, and many Palestinian believe initiated the start of the 51-day war in Gaza that summer. Although 31-year-old Yoseph Haim Ben-David is suspected of orchestrating the brutal crime, his verdict was delayed due to an insanity plea.
A court in Jerusalem convicted two Israelis on Monday over the 2014 death of a Palestinian teenager. He had been beaten and burned alive.
Adnan Al-Husseiny, minister of Jerusalem affairs in the Palestinian government, talked to media after they found the body saying that this cruel murder of the child, burning him alive is cruel, and he remarked how the tension between Israeli and Palestinian would escalate quickly because of that. Hussein Abu Khdeir, Mohammed’s father, told Al Jazeera that he wanted to take the case to the International Criminal Court.
Ayman Odeh, a Palestinian citizen of Israel who sits in the Israeli parliament as head of the Joint List, said, “The state is sending a clear message of forgiveness and understanding when it comes to Jewish terror”.
“The verdict is a joke – the lawyer representing the murders was screaming at the judge and mocking him – it’s a jokes; a big lie”, said Aisha Abu Khdeir, an aunt of Mohammed. Within a day, three had confessed and re-enacted the murder scene, while the other three suspects were released. The sentencing of the two is expected in mid-January. It said his case would be discussed on December 20.
Israeli soldiers stand next to commuters at a bus station where a Palestinian attacker stabbed an Israeli woman before being shot dead by Israeli security forces, near the Gush Etzion junction south of Jerusalem on November 22, 2015.
Prosecutor Uri Korb objected to the decision, arguing that he was in favor of reviewing the issue at an earlier stage, but it’s too late now since the trial was closed and the court had already drafted its verdict with only a few days before announcing it.
Some 100 Palestinians have been killed, about half of whom were targeted while they were attacking Israelis.
Meanwhile, Islamic Hamas movement’s spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in an emailed press statement that the decision of the court not to convict the murderer of Abu Khudeir shows “how this occupation is raciest and sponsors the crimes of the settlers crimes against the Palestinian people”.
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The desperate words were spoken by Mohammed’s cousin, Ansam Abu Khdeir, who has attended nearly every court session since the trial began. Then they would demolish his house and arrest his family. However, his attorneys filed a last minute appeal – which suggests their client is not liable for his participation in Mohammed Abu Khdeir’s death as he is insane.
