A Jerusalem court on Tuesday handed a life sentence to the main assailant and mastermind in the killing of a Palestinian teenager in 2014, whose death helped spark a chain of events that led to that year's operation in Gaza. On July 2, 2014, the defendant Yosef Haim Ben-David, together with two underage accomplices, abducted, bludgeoned and burned alive 16-year-old Muhammad Abu Khdeir, a resident of east Jerusalem. The court sentenced Ben-David, 30, to life in prison for murder, with an additional 20 years for other counts. The sentences are to be served consecutively. The two underage defendants who helped Ben-David abduct the teen were sentenced in February, one to life imprisonment and the other to 21 years in jail. All three confessed to the crimes attributed to them. The state prosecutor said the damage Ben-David had caused Israel and the family of the Palestinian teen was "irreparable." Ben-David and his two accomplices abducted their victim in his east Jerusalem neighborhood, drove to a forest and burned him to death. They said it was in revenge for the murder of three Israeli teens who were abducted and killed by Hamas operatives earlier that summer. News of the teens' death had emerged several days before Ben-David perpetrated his crime. Abu Khdeir's murder was widely condemned in Israel, but fueled clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police. Ben-David expressed remorse in the courtroom. After the sentencing, the Abu Khdeir family yelled slurs at him. Hussein Abu Khdeir, the father of the murdered teen, said he wanted to "see him die in prison." After the murder of the three Jewish teens, Israel cracked down on Hamas in the West Bank, prompting Hamas in Gaza to increase rocket fire into Israel. The violence escalated into Operation Protective Edge, fought in the Gaza Strip for 50 days. Gaza has been mostly calm since then, but on Tuesday, customs officials thwarted a plot to smuggle explosive materials into the Hamas-run territory just as Israeli authorities were gearing up to reopen a border crossing for the passage of goods into Gaza. The Israel Tax Authority said inspectors uncovered four tons of ammonium chloride -- enough to produce hundreds of rockets -- hidden inside sacks of salt about two weeks ago as the shipment was being transferred into Gaza. "This case underscores the activity of Gaza-based terrorist organizations in smuggling dual-use materials disguised as goods destined for the civilian population and reconstruction projects," the Tax Authority said. Along with explosives, ammonium chloride can be used in fertilizer and other products. Israel's Shin Bet security service became suspicious after unusually large quantities of salt were ordered by a Gaza importer with ties to the Islamic militant group Hamas, the Tax Authority said. Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade on Gaza in 2007 after Hamas seized power from forces loyal to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Humanitarian aid and goods enter Gaza via Israeli crossings. Other goods are smuggled in through tunnels from neighboring Egypt.
Credit: Reuters
