Israeli who burned Palestinian teen alive sentenced to life in prison

[Eugene]

Source: Washington Post

Israeli who burned Palestinian teen alive sentenced to life in prison

By William Booth May 3 at 2:35 PM

JERUSALEM — The ringleader of a group that kidnapped and burned alive a Palestinian teenager two years ago — a revenge killing that shocked many here because of its savagery — was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison plus 20 years.

Yosef Haim Ben-David was convicted of murder and kidnapping last month. Ben-David, 32, the owner of an eyewear shop in Jerusalem, lived in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank. He is married with a young daughter and is the son of an ultra-Orthodox rabbi.

The killing of Mohammed Abu Khdeir, 16, in 2014 was part of a summer of violence that contributed to the war between Israel and the Islamist militant movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Before his sentence was read in court Tuesday evening, Ben-David made a brief statement. “I apologize for what happened,” he said. “I ask forgiveness of the family for all that happened.”

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/israeli-who-burned-palestinian-teen-alive-sentenced-to-life-in-prison/2016/05/03/513b92ac-114f-11e6-a9b5-bf703a5a7191_story.html

[King_David]

1. Good

Where's all the apologies from those posters with a hate on the Jewish state who claimed there would be no justice.

I'm not surprised they staying away from this thread completely .

[leftynyc]

3. Give them time

They haven't figured out how to trash Israel for whatever. Or they'll ignore it. If nothing else, they're pathetically predictable.

[kayecy]

6. Errrrr...........Care to justify your statement with some evidence?

"Where's all the apologies from those posters with a hate on the Jewish state who claimed there would be no justice".

Errrrr...........Care to support your statement with some evidence?........Perhaps names of those posters?

[King_David]

10. Any regulars in this group know exactly who's who without calling anyone out

[leftynyc]

2. Excellent

Deserves every second of that sentence. Life plus 20 - not sure how that works but sounds awesome.

[CincyDem]

4. Life+20. The may have some law about probation on the last 15 years of a sentence.

Not sure how it works in Israel but he's probably eligible for parole 5 years after he dies. A lot of countries look at "life" as cruel and unusual so there's an option for probation. He'll get it just like everyone else and I hope he uses it well.

(btw - I picked 15 years as an example...might be 10, might be 20...but I'll bet it's not more than 20)

[Little Tich]

5. Life in prison plus 20 years is a very long time.

However, the Israeli government usually insists on razing the homes of terrorists, but not in this case. Can someone explain the rationale behind razing the homes of Palestinian terrorists but not Jewish ones?

[leftynyc]

7. You know what else is different?

There wont be any parades for this criminal, there wont be streets named after him, there wont be candy given out to the children in honor of him and there wont be payments to his family from the government to thank them for raising a martyr. No surprise that doesn't raise questions from you.

[Little Tich]

8. I hope you're right.

But life plus 20 years is an awfully long time. I come from a part of the world (an unspecified Scandinavian country) where the average sentence served for murder is less than ten years, and a guy like Anders Breivik gets sentenced to 21 years after killing 77 people.

I must honestly say that I don't understand what good such a long sentence will do.

[shira]

9. If the average sentence for murder is 10 years, your country isn't safe...

I wouldn't want murderers out in just 10 years living anywhere near me or my family.

What does your country do with sexual predators, rapists?

[Little Tich]

12. Rehabilitation is the key.

A prison sentence is supposed to decrease recidivism, not the opposite. Just because we dislike some people doesn't mean they can stay on the narrow path if given the chance.

Scandinavian countries are really safe compared to the US. There's free and excellent healthcare too.

[Mosby]

14. rehabilitation is a worthwhile endeavor

But the main point of a prison sentence is to protect society and punish the criminal.

Recidivism rates are so high for some offenders though, that rehabilitation efforts are pointless unless they are minors and often even then they are too far gone to be rehabilitated.

I speak from experience, I have spent years working directly with juvenile offenders.

[leftynyc]

13. It will keep someone who

has proven he can't live among civilized people and should be locked up, locked up. His crime was horrific. The sentence Breivik got was a crime itself.

[King_David]

11. All I hear is , blah blah blah

BUT ....