Occupied Jerusalem: An Israeli teenager who killed a Palestinian from occupied east Jerusalem in a racially-motivated attack last year has been sentenced to eight years in jail.
In February 2011, 24-year-old Hussam Al Ruwaidi was killed during an attack in central Jerusalem by four Jewish youths.
On Thursday, one of the youths, who was 16 at the time of the attack, was convicted of manslaughter as part of a plea bargain in a Jerusalem juvenile court, court documents showed.
The court heard that three Jewish youths and another friend, all of whom had been drinking all night, came across Al Ruwaidi speaking Arabic with a friend. One of the four began “yelling racial slurs at them and punching them”.
“Though the defendant did not hear the content of the shouts... when he saw [his friend] hitting the two, he joined the fight, and at a certain point pulled a straight razor out of his pocket and attacked the deceased with it, causing a deep cut to his face,” Justice Zvi Segal wrote in his ruling.
The other two youths also joined the fight, and the four kicked and punched Al Ruwaidi and his friend.
Al Ruwaidi eventually collapsed and was taken to hospital where he died from the injury to his face, the ruling said.
Segal also ordered the defendant to pay Al Ruwaidi’s friend 5,000 shekels (Dh4,623).
Two of the other minors who joined in the attack are still on trial.
