Israeli Convicted of Murdering Three Members of Palestinian Family

An Israeli court on Monday rendered a guilty verdict against the primary suspect in the 2015 firebombing of a Palestinian home in the West Bank village of Duma that killed three members of the Dawabshe family, including a toddler. Amiram Ben-Uliel was convicted of three counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder and two counts of arson. A second suspect, whose name has not been released given that he was a minor at the time of the attack, reached a plea agreement with prosecutors last May, when he admitted to planning the assault but not participating. Despite the youth not showing up at a predetermined rendezvous point, Ben-Uliel nevertheless entered Duma and threw Molotov cocktails into two homes. While the first structure was empty, the Dawabshe family was sleeping in the other. Eighteen-month-old Ali was burned to death in the ensuing fire. His parents, Riham and Saad, died later, while 4-year-old Ahmad was seriously burned but survived. Ben-Uliel has maintained his innocence, claiming his confession was coerced through torture by members of Israel’s internal security agency, the Shin Bet, which detained him five months after the attack. His sentencing hearing is set for June 9.