Israeli court rejects appeals in murder of Palestinian teen

JERUSALEM – Israel’s Supreme Court has rejected appeals filed by three Israelis convicted in a high-profile murder of a Palestinian teenager in 2014.

Yosef Haim Ben David and two underage accomplices 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 and their sentences, one to life in prison and the other to 21 years, were upheld.

Ben David and his accomplices said the killing was in revenge for three Israeli teens abducted earlier that summer and killed by Palestinians allied with the Islamic militant group Hamas. The incidents helped propel Israel to war in Gaza.