Israel rules against demolishing homes of Abu Khdeir's killers

The Israeli Supreme Court today decided not to demolish the homes of three Israelis convicted of brutally killing 16-year-old Mohammed Abu Khdeir in 2014.

The Abu Khdeir family had presented a petition to the Israeli courts demanding that Yosef Haim Ben-David and two minors, who were convicted of kidnapping and burning the Palestinian teenager alive three years ago, have their homes demolished, in line with an official Israeli policy carried out overwhelmingly against Palestinians.

Read: Israel issues demolition orders to 4 Palestinian families

However, according to Israeli news outlet Ynet, Israel’s Supreme Court rejected the petition. Retired Judge Elyakim Rubinstein ruled that too much time had passed between the “abominable act of murder” and the submission of the petition.

Ben-David, the ringleader of the kidnapping and murder, received a life sentence for the murder, and 20 additional years for other crimes he had committed. He was also ordered to pay 150,000 shekels ($42,650) to Abu Khdeir’s family.

Earlier today four Palestinian families in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus received demolition orders from Israeli occupation forces as part of Israel’s collective punishment process which sees them punished because their family members are alleged to have taken part in attacks against Israeli soldiers.