Jewish Extremist Ruled Fit for Sentencing in Revenge Murder of Palestinian
Image by Getty Images
The Jewish-Israeli man who was convicted of organizing the revenge murder of a Palestinian teenager in 2014 was ruled mentally fit to be sentenced.
An Israeli court ruled Monday that Yosef Ben-David, 31, of the West Bank settlement Adam, can be sentenced, Israel’s Channel 2 reported. Ben-David was convicted of the murder along with two minors in November.
His insanity plea, which claimed he should not be held responsible for his actions at the time of the kidnapping and murder of Muhammad Abu Khdeir, noted that he has a history of mental illness and has been under medication for his condition.
The names of Ben-David’s accomplices, who were both 16 at the time of the killing, have not been released publicly.
The three kidnapped Khdeir, then beat and burned him alive in the Jerusalem Forest in July 2014. The crime took place soon after the bodies of three Jewish teens who had been kidnapped and murdered by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas were found in the West Bank.
Ben-David’s accomplices were sentenced earlier this month: one to life in prison, the other to 21 years.
Khdeir’s father, Hussein Abu Khdeir, has said the family plans to appeal the 21-year sentence as too lenient. He has also requested that the court demolish the killers’ homes as they have for a Palestinian terrorist.
Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief
- Alyssa Katz, Editor-in-Chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
