Killer of Palestinian Teenager Muhammad Abu Khdeir Dies in Prison

Yosef Haim Ben-David, who was convicted of the 2014 murder of Palestinian teenager Muhammad Abu Khdeir, died on Thursday after being transferred from prison to a hospital. Ben-David, 42, from Jerusalem, was serving a life sentence at the "Hadarim" prison. The Israel Prison Service stated that an "investigation team has been appointed."

Abu Khdeir's burnt body was found on July 2, 2014. He had left his home in East Jerusalem early that morning and was abducted, murdered, and burned by Ben-David in an act of revenge for the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank settlement bloc of Gush Etzion a month earlier. Ben-David confessed to the murder in a 2019 interview from Nitzan prison, where he also discussed his attempts to receive a pardon.

Despite explicit court rulings, Ben-David consistently claimed insanity. "I want them to reopen the case," he stated. "I don't deserve to sit for something I didn't do consciously." He described his interrogations, claiming he was sleep-deprived and that he did not remember fleeing the scene in his car, recalling mainly "fire." He attributed his alleged memory lapses to mental health conditions like bipolar disorder and OCD.

However, courts repeatedly determined that Ben-David was aware of his actions. In April 2016, the Jerusalem District Court convicted Ben-David, with the judge ruling he was responsible for his actions, rejecting his defense's claims of legal incompetence. The verdict stated Ben-David understood and controlled his actions. In February 2018, the Supreme Court rejected the appeals of Ben-David and his two minor nephews, who were convicted in November 2015 for their involvement in the abduction and murder. The Supreme Court upheld the sentences: life imprisonment for one nephew and 21 years for the other. The court emphasized that based on their own statements during investigations, their original plan was to kidnap and kill a Palestinian as nationalist revenge following the murder of the three Israeli teens.

In his 2019 interview, Ben-David also expressed remorse, saying, "I want to apologize to the Abu Khdeir family. I have his picture by my bed and I pray and ask for forgiveness every day."