Honenu Atty. Chayim Bleicher; Photo credit: Honenu
Monday, May 8, 2023, 11:52 In April 2023, Arabs stole a car from a Jew in Nabi Elias, an Arab village in the Shomron, brutally beat him, and tried to run him over. The victim filed a complaint with the police, but they closed the case. Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher wrote a letter to the police demanding that the case be reopened.
In his letter, Attorney Bleicher described the violent carjacking: “On April 1, 2023, my client drove through Nabi Elias on Route 55. Three Arab suspects blocked his car with theirs. The Arabs got out of their car, pulled my client from his car while the engine was still running, and beat him all over his body while shouting ‘Allah hu akbar,’ even though he lay sprawled on the road and they already had taken control of the car. The suspects began to drive my client’s car toward the eastern exit of the village, but at some point, they made a U-turn and returned to try to run him over. My client saved himself at the last moment by jumping up and flattening himself against the side of the road. He was left badly injured at the scene and started to walk by himself in an attempt to call for help. A police car picked him up at the scene of the crime.”
Attorney Bleicher added that despite the victim’s complaint to the police, the brutal beating, and the great financial loss, the case was closed: “The violence resulted in two broken ribs, multiple bruises and internal hemorrhages. My client’s car, valued at 150,000 NIS, and construction equipment, valued at 50,000 NIS, were stolen. My client’s car, valued at 150,000 NIS, was stolen together with construction equipment inside, valued at a further 50,000 NIS. Recently, my client was informed by the crime victim notification system that the case had been closed on the grounds of ‘perpetrator unknown’.”
Attorney Bleicher cited the widespread problem of carjacking in the Shomron area and noted that the law enforcement authorities should relate to the problem as nationalistic terrorism: “This was an extremely violent assault specifically targeting Jews. My client’s life was in immediate danger, both because of the extreme violence and his advanced age, and because of the attempt to run him over after the theft. There is an increasingly widespread phenomenon of extremely violent carjackings targeting Jews. We must not ignore the circumstances of the incident, which indicate in every way that it is a nationalistic attack: viciousness far beyond an ordinary car theft, the shouts of ‘Allah hu akbar’ and the attempt to run over [the victim], which caused [the assailants] to remain at the scene, delaying their escape.”
In conclusion, Attorney Bleicher demanded that the police reopen the investigative case and arrest the assailants: “The failure of the police to quickly and decisively neutralize the above-mentioned terror gangs essentially constitutes the abandoning of the security and lives of Israeli citizens in the area. I demand that you reopen the investigative case and work with the GSS and the intelligence authorities to arrest and neutralize the suspects.”
The victim’s son testified that an Arab acquaintance of his father told him that his car had been stolen from the same village in the same manner, but the thieves came back several minutes later and returned the car. They apologized for thinking that the car belonged to a Jew because of its Israeli license plates.
Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher commented on the incident: “Robberies that are violent to the point of attempted murder are an integral part of the terror that targets Jewish Israeli citizens. Terror gangs must be eradicated at all levels. It is only a matter of time before people lose their lives. We call on the security forces, the government, and the law enforcement authorities to wake up and neutralize these terror gangs.”