Abu Khdeir murderer sentenced to life plus 20 years

An Israeli court yesterday handed down a sentence of life and 20 years in jail to the man found guilty of killing Palestinian teenager Mohamed Abu Khdeir.

Yosef Haim Ben-David, 31, was also ordered to pay 150,000 Israeli shekels ($39,630) to Abu Khdeir’s family and 20,000 Israeli shekels ($5,284) to the family of another seven-year-old Palestinian child that Ben-David attempted to kidnap in Jerusalem’s Beit Hanina.

“This is a man who dragged his relatives into committing a kidnapping and a murder of an innocent teenager,” Israeli YnetNews website reported Prosecutor Uri Korev saying. “A man who committed incomprehensible and revolting acts.”

“He committed these acts out of barbarous motives of revenge, and he is placing the responsibility for the acts on his accomplices, who are minors, and claims he is being falsely accused.”

YnetNews reported Abu-Khdeir’s father saying the sentence was iinsufficient. “We want him to stay in prison for the rest of his life and die there.”

The family’s lawyer, Mohand Jabariya, said he submitted a request to Israeli Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan to consider destroying Ben-David’s house, as is commonly done by Israel as an act of deterrence against Palestinians.