Israeli youths guilty in beating, burning death of Palestinian teen

JERUSALEM -- A Jerusalem court yesterday convicted two Israeli youths in the grisly killing of a 16-year-old Palestinian boy whose slaying was part of a chain of events that led to last year's Gaza war.

The court delayed the verdict for the third and chief suspect in the case due to a last-minute insanity plea, sparking claims that Israel is too lenient with Jewish assailants.

The court found the two Israeli minors guilty of killing Mohammed Abu Khdeir, who was kidnapped, beaten unconscious and then burned alive in July 2014. Their names were not released under Israeli law. The sentencing of the two is expected in mid-January.

The delay of the verdict for suspected ringleader Yosef Haim Ben David, 31, infuriated many Palestinians, who contend that Israel is too lenient on Jewish offenders while dealing harshly with Palestinians.

The developments could also further increase Israeli-Palestinian tensions amid a two-month wave of violence that has convulsed the region.

Abu Khdeir's father Hussein denounced the proceedings. "This is a lie," he told Israeli Army Radio. "I am afraid that the court will release them in the end." An aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said it was "unprecedented" for the court to accept the insanity plea the day of the verdict, rather than during the subsequent appeal.

In his ruling, Judge Jacob Zaban determined that Ben David and the two minors snatched Abu Khdeir off an east Jerusalem sidewalk in July 2014 and burned him alive in a forest west of the city.

The judge found that Ben David drove the car while the two youths beat Abu Khdeir unconscious in the backseat. Once they reached the forest, one accomplice helped Ben David douse Abu Khdeir with gasoline. Then Ben David lit the match, according to Zaban.

The three suspects were arrested shortly after the July 2, 2014 abduction and confessed to the killing to investigators with Israel's Shin Bet, the security agency said.

According to the agency, the three said that Abu Khdeir's slaying was in revenge for the abduction and killing of three Israeli teens -- Eyal Yifrah, Gilad Shaar and Naftali Fraenkel -- by Hamas operatives in the West Bank.

The deaths of the three Israelis triggered an Israeli crackdown on Hamas in the West Bank. Hamas responded with rocket fire on Israel from the Gaza Strip.

The confrontation escalated into a 50-day war in which more than 2,200 Palestinians, the majority of them civilians, were killed, according to United Nations figures.

On the Israeli side, 73 people were killed, most of them soldiers.