Israeli court rejects insanity plea of Jew for burning Palestinian to death

The ringleader of extremist Jews who burned to death a Palestinian teenager in Jerusalem in 2014 was convicted of murder on Tuesday, after the court rejected his insanity plea.

The Jerusalem District Court found Yosef Haim Ben David, 30, guilty of abducting Mohammed Abu Khdeir, a 16-year-old Palestinian from the Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat, and killing him in a forest outside the city.

In November, two Israelis, aged 16 and 17, were convicted of the murder and were later sentenced to 21 years in prison and life in prison.

Ben David, a 30-year-old settler, admitted committing the murder during his investigation. The court found him guilty but suspended his conviction due to insanity plea submitted only a few days before the final rule in his case.

On Tuesday, a panel of three judges rejected his plea, based on a psychiatric evaluation by the chief Jerusalem District psychiatrist, who said Ben David was "posing as insane."

"We knew from the beginning that he was not insane but a liar," Hussain, Abu Khdeir's father, told the Hebrew Walla news site, after the ruling. "It hurts us a lot, and we are tired of it. Our blood is burned every time we see him," he said.

The killers said during their interrogation that they wanted to "avenge" the kidnap and murder of three Israeli teens a month before by killing a Palestinian youth.

Before dawn on July 2, 2014, they kidnapped Abu Khdeir from near his home in Shuafat, while he was on his way to say his morning prayers at the local mosque.

They took him to the Jerusalem Forest, where they hit him, strangled him and finally burned him while still alive.

The gruesome killing shook the country and triggered violent protests in Jerusalem and about half a dozen other Arab cities throughout Israel. Endit