Court rules ringleader in the 2014 killing of Palestinian teen is sane

An Israeli man was convicted on Tuesday of murdering a Palestinian teenager in Jerusalem, as an Israeli court rejected his insanity plea for a crime that helped trigger the 2014 Gaza war.

Prosecutors said Yosef Haim Ben-David organized the killing of 16-year-old Mohammed Abu Khudair. Two Jewish youths who helped him abduct the teen, who was bludgeoned, strangled and burned alive, were sentenced in February, one to life imprisonment and the other to a 21-year term.

All three defendants had confessed and said the July 2, 2014, murder was revenge for the killing days earlier of three Israeli youths by Hamas.