Yosef Haim Ben-David, Convicted Killer of Mohammed Abu Khdeir, Dies at 42
Yosef Haim Ben-David, the prime defendant in the 2014 nationalist murder of Palestinian teenager Mohammed Abu Khdeir, died in prison on Thursday at the age of 42.
Yosef Haim Ben-David, 42, the prime defendant in the 2014 murder of Palestinian teenager Mohammed Abu Khdeir, died on Thursday. He was transferred from the Sharon Prison to a hospital, where his death was pronounced.
The Murder and Conviction
Mohammed Abu Khdeir, 16, from Shuafat, was kidnapped and murdered in July 2014. Ben-David was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment plus 20 years. Ben-David and two other minors convicted of the crime abducted and murdered Abu Khdeir on the night following the funeral of three Israeli teenagers—Naftali Fraenkel, Gil-Ad Shaer, and Eyal Yifrah—as an act of revenge for their kidnapping and murder in June of that year, shortly before Operation Protective Edge.
According to the court ruling, on the evening of July 2, after prior preparation and equipment gathering, the three set out to carry out a "revenge operation." For three hours, they searched for a suitable victim in the Wadi Joz and Beit Hanina neighborhoods. At around 4:00 AM, they spotted Abu Khdeir leaving his home for the mosque to pray. They forced him into a car, and during the drive, the two minors held him down as he struggled.
Perpetration and Legal Aftermath
Ben-David ordered one of the minors to "finish him," and the teenager choked Abu Khdeir until he lost consciousness. Upon arriving at the Jerusalem Forest, one of the minors complained that they were doing all the work. Ben-David then took a crowbar and struck Abu Khdeir, shouting, "This is for the Fogel family" and "This is for Shalhevet Pass," until bleeding occurred. He also kicked the teenager several times while shouting, "This is for Gilad, Naftali, Eyal."
They then set fire to the unconscious teenager and fled the scene. They destroyed evidence at Sacher Park and returned to Ben-David's home in Adam, where they played guitars and went to sleep.
Following the murder, Abu Khdeir's family demanded the demolition of the murderers' homes, but the Supreme Court rejected the petition, citing the excessive time that had elapsed between the murder and the filing of the petition. Approximately four years after the murder, the victim's family filed a lawsuit seeking roughly 5.5 million shekels from the three perpetrators.
