Muhammed Abu Khdeir recognized as terror victim

East Jerusalem teenager Muhammed Abu Khdeir, who was abducted and killed by Jewish extremists on July 2, will be recognized as a victim of terrorist activity, officials at the Ministry of Defense say. The ministry came to the decision after police determined that the murder had been carried out on nationalistic grounds, most probably as a revenge attack for the killing of three Israeli teens three weeks earlier.

Earlier Thursday, the Jerusalem District Court indicted three suspects in the killing of 16-year-old Abu Khdeir.

The state prosecution asserted that, hours after the three Israeli teens were laid to rest, the three strangled and beat the East Jerusalem teenager, and while he was unconscious, burned him to death in the Jerusalem forest.

The indictment also charged two of the defendants with the attempted kidnapping of a seven-year-old Palestinian boy in Beit Hanina the night before the murder, an attempt to burn Palestinian cars, and arson against a Palestinian store in the West Bank village of Hizme in June.

The indictment said that the three went on “a human hunt,” during which they “cruelly kidnapped and murdered the minor Muhammed Abu Khdeir simply for being an Arab.”

The indicted include a 29-year-old resident of Adam, in the West Bank, and two 16-year-olds — one from Jerusalem, the other from Beit Shemesh. According to the indictment, the adult and one of the minors have a history of mental illness and are presently on medication.

The name of the 29-year-old suspect is expected to be made public later today.