3 Consecutive Life Sentences for Racist Killer of Palestinian Family

An Israeli settler, Amiram Ben-Uliel, 26, convicted on three counts of murder for the 2015 firebomb killing of the members of the Dawabsheh family from the village of Dura south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, including both parents and their infant son, was sentenced by an Israeli court last week to three life sentences in prison. The Dawabsheh family’s home was torched in the early morning hours of July 30, 2015, causing the deaths of Saad, 30, his wife Riham, 27, and their 18-month old son Ali. Only Ali’s older brother, Ahmad, survived despite sustaining severe burns.

In addition to the three life sentences, the Jewish terrorist received another term of 20 years behind bars for injuring Ahmed the older son, who was four years old at the time of his family’s deaths, and for firebombing a second, empty home. Ben-Uliel was ordered to pay compensation to Ahmed, now nine years old, and the owner of the second home the sum of 258,000 shekel ($75,000) each.

The funeral of 18-months-old child Ali Dawabsheh, the first of the three victims of his family to die as a result of the firebombing of their home by a Jewish terrorist, July 30, 2015.

The funeral of 18-months-old child Ali Dawabsheh, the first of the three victims of his family to die as a result of the firebombing of their home by a Jewish terrorist, July 30, 2015. (Photo: Activesitills)

Joint List head MK Ayman Odeh (Hadash) hailed the decision to sentence the terrorist Ben-Uliel: “The sentence for the murderer of the Dawabsheh family is partial justice for the murdered and for young Ahmed, who survived that horrible night.” But Odeh added, “Full justice will occur with the end of the occupation and the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.”

Ben-Uliel belonged to the “hilltop youth” group, a movement of racist and fascist settlers who sought to settle land in the occupied West Bank at all costs, including violence, terror and murder. Hours after Ben-Uliel’s sentencing, the son of far-right Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Yair, criticized the conviction and sentencing and retweeted a link to a “Honenu” (“Our money”), a crowdfunding page for the terrorist’s legal defense. Honenu is a far-right legal aid group that offers financial support for what they call “soldiers and civilians who find themselves in legal entanglements, due to defending themselves against Arab aggression, or due to their love for Israel.” Within hours of the younger Netanyahu’s tweet, supporters donated the more than 500,000 shekels needed by the murderer to pay the monetary fine imposed on him.

Hadash MK Yousef Jabareen (Joint List) welcomed the sentencing of Ben-Uliel, while noting that continued anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab rhetoric by far-right Israel leaders was responsible for fostering a climate in which such deadly attacks occurred. “The sentence handed down today is significant for the family and for the Palestinian people, given that the majority of crimes committed by settlers against Palestinians never reach the courts,” Jabareen said in a statement. “However, top government officials have led ongoing incitement campaigns agitating for political assassination and have generated an atmosphere of racial hatred. This ruling does not absolve them of responsibility for these acts. The cruel occupation and settlement enterprise breeds hate crimes of this nature and until they end, hate crimes of this nature will continue to occur.”

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