Israel convicts 2 youths in 2014 killing of Palestinian

Two Jewish teens were convicted of murder Monday in the 2014 abduction, killing and burning of a Palestinian youth near Jerusalem.

While EU officials say the guidelines reflect firmly established worldwide law, Israeli officials have described the measures as “unfair” and “harsh”.

The two minors are scheduled for sentencing in January.

That ruling has been criticized as too lenient.

But the Israeli government may continue making efforts to crack down on Jewish extremists, not only for Israelis’ and Palestinians’ safety, but to prevent further outbreaks of violence and instability.

“My blood is boiling”, Hussein Abu Khdeir, Khdeir’s father, told reporters. “I am afraid that the court will release them in the end”.

“This development shows that the first defendant in this case will be either acquitted or gets a mitigation excuse”, Ahmad Rwaidi said.

In the forest an argument ensued over the fact that Ben David was not as active in the attack as the two youths, leading him to take a crowbar and batter Mohammed while shouting the names of Israelis who had died in recent attacks by Palestinians.

One of the minors helped douse Mohammad Abu Khdair with petrol while he was still alive, before Mr Ben David lit a match and set him on fire, they added.

Abu Khdeir’s murder came days after three Israeli settler teens were kidnapped and killed in the West Bank, with prosecutors alleging that the three defendants were all attracted to the notion of a revenge killing.

Days later, Israel launched a military operation against Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. And around another 100 Palestinians have also been killed, some as they attempted to carry out such attacks, and others in clashes with Israeli forces.

Late last week, Ben David’s attorney, Asher Ohayon, submitted the insanity plea.

The Jerusalem court will issue a verdict for Ben David in December, according to the AP.

Hamas condemned what it called an “exoneration” of Ben David.

He said the last-minute insanity plea made a “joke of the court”. While the harshest penalty for murder for an adult is life in prison, there is no standard maximum sentence in Israel for minors convicted of the same crimes, said Mohanned Jabara, a lawyer representing the Abu Khdeir family. However, Abu Khdeir was outraged the ringleader, Yosef Haim Ben David, has not been convicted, even though he has been found guilty of carrying out the crime.

The two boys convicted were not identified because they were minors at the time of the crime.

Muhammad Abu Khdeir was kidnapped in the early hours of July 2, 2014, as he was making his way to pray at the local mosque in the Shuafat neighborhood of East Jerusalem.

Abbas confirmed that Kerry demanded both sides to work on calming the region, saying the USA supports a two-state solution.

The EU’s position is that the lands Israel has occupied since the 1967 Middle East war – including the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights – are not part of the internationally recognised borders of Israel.

The Palestinian Authority has asked municipalities to tone down their public Christmas celebrations this year amid escalating violence between Palestinians and Israelis. The Palestinians said the violence is rooted in frustration over a lack of hope for obtaining independence.

“When we attempt to maintain that we’re better than our enemies – and that I believe that we’re better than them – we should look only at that occasion as a mirror”, he said.

“The state is sending a clear message of forgiveness and understanding when it comes to Jewish terror”, he said.

After the European Union (EU) decision to label Israeli goods produced in the illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the Foreign Ministry to suspend contacts with the EU over the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon has said the suspects were known have not been arrested to protect intelligence sources.