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Israeli court rejects appeals in murder of Palestinian teen case

The Abu Khdeir murder case, which was roundly condemned across the Israeli political spectrum, has finally come to an end. 

By: AP and World Israel News Staff

Israel’s Supreme Court has rejected appeals filed by three Israelis convicted in the murder of a Palestinian teenager in 2014.

Yosef Haim Ben David and two accomplices, minors, were convicted in 2016 of abducting 16-year-old Mohammed Abu Khdeir and burning him to death. Ben David appealed the sentence, pleading insanity.

The court on Thursday upheld Ben David’s sentence of life plus 20 years.

His two accomplices, both minors at the time, also appealed their lengthy sentences, both of which were upheld.

Ben David and his accomplices said the killing was revenge for the abduction and murder of three Israelis earlier that summer by Hamas terrorists.

Abu Khdeir’s murder shocked the nation and was roundly condemned across the Israeli political spectrum as a vile and aberrant act of violence to which Israelis are not accustomed.