Israeli handed 3 life sentences for killing Palestinian family

AFP , Monday 14 Sep 2020

He was also found guilty of two counts each of attempted murder and arson, along with conspiracy to commit a hate crime

Palestinian
File Photo: Mourners carry the body of 18-month-old Palestinian baby Ali Dawabsheh, who was killed after his family's house was set to fire in a suspected attack by Jewish extremists in Duma village near the West Bank city of Nablus (Reuters)

An Israeli court handed a Jewish settler three life sentences Monday for murdering a Palestinian toddler and his parents in an arson attack on their home in the occupied West Bank.

Amiram Ben-Uliel was sentenced by the court in the town of Lod following his conviction in May for the 2015 killings.

He was also found guilty of two counts each of attempted murder and arson, along with conspiracy to commit a hate crime.

Ben-Uliel threw a firebomb through a window of the Dawabsha family home while they slept in the village of Duma.

Ahmed Dawabsha, who was four at the time, was severely burned in the attack which killed his 18-month-old brother Ali, his mother Riham and father Saed.

The murders shone a spotlight on Jewish extremism and sparked accusations that Israel had not done enough to prevent such violence.

In May 2019, another Israeli accepted a plea bargain over his role in the attack, confessing to a racially motivated conspiracy to commit a crime and vandalism.

The youth had admitted to staking out Duma ahead of the attack with Ben-Uliel, but was said not to have participated in it.

He has not been named, as he was 17 at the time of the killings and tried as a minor.

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