Jewish Terrorist Convicted of Murdering Palestinian Teen Dies in Prison

Yosef Haim Ben-David, the primary perpetrator convicted of the 2014 murder of Palestinian teenager Mohammed Abu Khdair, died Thursday at age 42. Ben-David was transported from the 'Hadarim' prison to a hospital following a cardiac event, where medical personnel were unable to revive him.

Ben-David's death comes approximately 12 years after the brutal murder that sparked widespread public outrage in Israel and internationally. He was serving a life sentence plus an additional 20 years for the abduction and murder of Abu Khdair, as handed down by the Jerusalem District Court.

The murder occurred in July 2014, amidst a period of heightened security tensions in the West Bank, shortly after the abduction and murder of three Israeli teenagers, Gil-ad Shaer, Naftali Fraenkel, and Eyal Yifrah, by militants. Ben-David, along with two minors, including his nephew, embarked on a revenge mission on the night of the Israeli teens' funerals. They cruised Jerusalem streets until they found 16-year-old Mohammed Abu Khdair from Shuafat, who was on his way to morning prayers at a mosque. They brutally abducted him, drove him to the Jerusalem Forest, beat him with clubs, doused him with gasoline, and set him on fire while he was still alive.

During his interrogation by the Shin Bet and a reenactment of the crime scene, Ben-David described the events as a revenge act for the murder of the Israeli teens. He recounted to investigators, "I took him out of the car and threw him here. I grabbed him and said, 'This is for the Fogel family, this is for [child victim] שלהבת פס.' Then I asked them to bring the gasoline bottle. I poured it all over here. One bottle, one liter. I lit a lighter, I didn't think about anything. In a second, he was all aflame."

The case garnered significant public and legal attention. The Jerusalem District Court convicted Ben-David of murder, abduction, and assault, ruling that he was sane, understood his actions, and was responsible for them at the time of the offenses. In February 2018, the Supreme Court rejected Ben-David's appeal, upholding his conviction and rejecting his insanity defense. Presiding Justice Yitzhak Amit stated in the ruling, "The murder can be defined as a strategic terror attack that ignited Jerusalem in general and East Jerusalem in particular. The murder necessitates a profound soul-searching within Israeli society regarding the confrontation with the phenomenon of racism and its consequences."

Ben-David's two accomplices also played significant roles in the crime and received life sentences and 21-year sentences, respectively. The Abu Khdair family pursued legal proceedings, demanding full justice for those involved. In 2018, the family filed a civil lawsuit against the three murderers seeking approximately 5.5 million shekels in damages, stating that no compensation could adequately address the "senseless and abhorrent loss of a young human life."