Convicted Murderer of Palestinian Teenager Dies in Prison

Yosef Chaim Ben-David, who was convicted of the brutal murder of Palestinian teenager Mohammed Abu Khdair, died on Thursday in a hospital while serving his sentence. Ben-David, 42, from Jerusalem, was an inmate at the "Sharon" prison. The Israel Prison Service stated that an investigation into the circumstances of his death has been launched.

Mohammed Abu Khdair's burnt body was discovered on July 2, 2014. The Palestinian youth had left his home in East Jerusalem early that morning and was subsequently abducted, murdered, and burned by Ben-David. The motive for the crime was revenge for the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank settlement bloc of Gush Etzion a month earlier.

During his imprisonment, Ben-David maintained he was not mentally fit to stand trial and claimed he did not remember the events. He told Channel 13 in 2019 from Nitzan prison, "I want them to reopen the case. I don't deserve to sit for something I didn't do consciously." He described his interrogations, stating he was deprived of sleep for four days and repeatedly asserted his lack of memory. He attributed his state to mental health conditions like bipolar disorder and OCD, which he claimed outsiders could not understand.

Despite Ben-David's claims of unawareness, the courts consistently ruled he was responsible for his actions. In April 2016, the Jerusalem District Court convicted Ben-David, finding him aware of and in control of his actions, rejecting his defense's claims of incompetence. In November 2015, his two minor nephews, who participated in the abduction and murder, were also convicted. One received a life sentence and the other 21 years in February 2015.

The indictment detailed how the three, seeking revenge after the discovery of the Israeli teens' bodies, initially attempted to abduct a Palestinian woman and child. Failing that, they targeted Abu Khdair the next day in Beit Hanina. They forcibly entered him into a vehicle, beat him unconscious, took him to the Jerusalem Forest, beat him again, and then burned him while he was still alive and unconscious.

In February 2018, the Supreme Court rejected the appeals of Ben-David and his nephews, upholding their sentences. The court affirmed that based on their own statements during investigations, their original plan was to abduct and murder a Palestinian as nationalist revenge. Hussein Abu Khdair, the victim's father, expressed his deep distress, stating, "He burned the whole family." Ben-David had previously apologized to the Abu Khdair family, saying he kept a picture of Mohammed by his bed and prayed for forgiveness daily.