The Main Perpetrator of the Palestinian Teen's Murder Sentenced to Life Imprisonment

A court in Israel on Tuesday, May 3, sentenced the leader of a gang, who was the main perpetrator in the abduction and murder of a Palestinian teenager, to life imprisonment. According to the Associated Press, the Jerusalem court deemed 30-year-old Yosef Ben David guilty of kidnapping and burning leading to the murder of 16-year-old Muhammad Abu Khdeir, sentencing him to life in prison plus an additional twenty years. The addition of twenty years to the life sentence serves as a way to prevent the possibility of the killer being pardoned in the future. In early summer 2014, Muhammad Abu Khdeir was abducted by Yosef Ben David and his relatives near his home in the Palestinian camp of Shuafat in northern Jerusalem. Reports indicate that this 'gang' tortured Abu Khdeir severely and burned him alive in a forest near Jerusalem the day after his abduction. A few days prior, two Hamas-supporting Palestinians had kidnapped three Israeli Jewish teenagers at a station near Jerusalem, and their bodies were found after extensive searches by the Israeli army in a pit in the West Bank. The series of violent events in early summer 2014 led to a 50-day war between the Israeli army and Hamas in Gaza, which resulted in the deaths of over 2,200 Palestinians in Gaza, at least one-third of whom were civilians, while 66 soldiers and seven civilians were killed on the Israeli side during that bloody operation. The Jerusalem court recognized Yosef Ben David as the main perpetrator of Abu Khdeir's murder last year, but the defendant's legal team delayed the ruling by claiming he was not mentally fit; this claim was rejected by a team of psychologists. On Tuesday, after hearing the ruling, Yosef Ben David requested clemency, but Abu Khdeir's father, who was present in court during the sentencing of his son's killer, shouted at Ben David, praying that he would die in prison. Abu Khdeir's father also called on Israel to demolish the house of this terrorist, just as it destroys the homes of Palestinians who are involved in the killings of Israelis. Two other relatives of Yosef Ben David were convicted last year for membership in this terrorist gang, but since they were under 18, they received lighter sentences. This gang had previously kidnapped and tortured another Palestinian but eventually released him. In the past two years, Israel's internal security agency has identified and arrested gangs of Jewish terrorists involved in the killing and harming of Palestinians. According to Israeli media reports, at least thirty right-wing Jewish activists have been subjected to restrictions such as travel bans. However, the terrorists who threw a Molotov cocktail into the home of the Dawabsheh family in the village of Duma in the West Bank last year, burning a baby alive and later causing the deaths of his parents, have yet to be identified by Israel's internal security agency. The intensification of right-wing activities, which the Israeli defense minister has also labeled as 'Jewish terrorists,' has coincided with a crisis of street violence over the past seven months. Recent violence has mainly continued in the form of stabbings against Israeli soldiers and civilians. The latest stabbing incident occurred on Monday evening, May 2, in eastern Jerusalem, where a 60-year-old Israeli man was injured, and security forces arrested an 18-year-old Palestinian attacker after an hour. In the early hours of Tuesday, May 3, the Israeli army demolished the home of Zaid Amer in the West Bank; Zaid Amer had shot and killed an Israeli couple, Eitam and Naama Henkin, in their car in the West Bank last autumn, in front of their six children. Meanwhile, according to Haaretz on Monday, May 2, the killing of a Palestinian brother and sister at a checkpoint near Jerusalem has raised doubts about whether Israeli forces are recklessly shooting Palestinians on suspicion of attempting to attack. Haaretz reported that security forces have refused to closely examine the footage of the killing of this brother and sister, claiming that the two Palestinians 'did not heed' the stop command, and later two knives were presented as evidence of their alleged attack attempt in the images. Six weeks ago, an Israeli soldier shot a wounded Palestinian lying on the ground in the West Bank in the head; the severe criticism from the defense minister and the chief of staff of the army regarding 'illegal behaviors' faced a wave of criticism and protests from Israeli right-wingers. In the recent seven months of violence, 28 Israelis and several foreigners have been killed, while over 210 Palestinians have died.