[IsraelTimes] The Israeli man charged in the grisly 2014 abduction and killing of Paleostinian teen Muhammad Abu Khdeir was convicted of murder by the Jerusalem District Court on Tuesday.Yosef Ben David, a 31-year-old resident of the city, is expected to receive a life sentence for the murder, which shocked the country and sparked days of Paleostinian riots. The judge set his sentencing hearing for next month.
The court rejected Ben Yosef’s insanity plea, determining that he murdered Abu Khdeir for "nationalistic" motives and noting he was aware of his actions on the night of the killing. His two accomplices, who were minors at the time of the attack, were convicted of murder earlier this year and sentenced to lengthy prison sentences.
"The court has found that at the time he committed the offense, the accused was not psychotic, fully understood the facts, was responsible for his actions, had no difficulty in understanding reality and had the capacity to prevent the crime," a statement from the Justice Ministry describing the ruling said.
Hussein Abu Khdeir, the father of the murdered teen, called Tuesday for Israeli authorities to destroy his home in keeping with the policy of demolishing the homes of Paleostinian attackers.
Abu Khdeir, 16, was kidnapped near his home in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat and killed on July 1, 2014, two days after it emerged that three Israeli teens who had been kidnapped several weeks earlier in the West Bank were killed by their Paleostinian kidnappers shortly after they were grabbed.
The other two killers -- both minors -- were sentenced to life in prison and 21 years, respectively. The first, aged 17, was convicted of actively helping in Abu Khdeir’s kidnap-murder. He was sentenced to life for helping to pour gasoline on the teen before he was set alight and ordered to pay NIS 35,000 in reparations.
The second, aged 16, was found guilty of helping the 17-year-old and Ben David to kill the boy, received a 21-year sentence and was ordered to pay NIS 30,000 in reparations to the Abu Khdeir family.
The stiff sentences are rare for minors. Israeli law forbids identifying minors convicted of crimes.