Please click here for a list of posts relating to cases in which Honenu provided legal counsel to victims of antisemitic attacks in Jerusalem.
Arson damage; Photo courtesy of the family
Wednesday, December 18, 2024, 12:10 Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher filed a civil suit for damages of NIS 2,000,000 against three terrorists, one of them a minor, who set the Yoshvaev family’s house and cars on fire in the Shimon HaTzadik neighborhood of Jerusalem in 2022. The adult terrorists were sentenced to five and six years’ imprisonment, respectively, and a sentence of 40 months’ imprisonment was handed down to the minor. The Yoshvaev family was also awarded compensation.
Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher, who is representing the Yoshvaev family, issued a statement: “The war on Islamic terror must be fought on all fronts. The suit was filed against terrorists who tried to burn down a house with the family inside several times, and in the end succeeded, although fortunately when the family was not at home. We will act with all the means at our disposal to exact a high price from the terrorists, and a stiff prison sentence is not enough. Additional penalties, such as compensation for victims, are necessary to increase deterrence against acts of terror and strengthen the security of Israeli citizens in their country, and especially in their eternal capital.”
In February 2022, several terrorists hurled Molotov cocktails at the home of the Yoshvaev family in the Shimon HaTzadik neighborhood of Jerusalem. The flames set fire to the home, the fire being particularly fierce in the children’s bedroom. Fortunately, the family was not at home at the time. For this incident and other attacks on the family’s house, the terrorists Haj Mahmud and Jabari were indicted for arson, weapon production, carrying a weapon, racially and maliciously motivated damage, attempted arson as an act of terror, aggravated assault as an act of terror, and operating a weapon as an act of terror. In November 2024, the Supreme Court accepted an appeal by the State Attorney’s office and increased the sentences of Haj Mahmud and Jabari, two of the terrorists who were convicted of an arson attack
Since Operation Guardian of the Walls, the Yoshvaev family has suffered close to 20 acts of terror including fireworks shot from point-blank range at their sukka while Tal was sleeping in it, nine vehicular arson attacks, two Molotov cocktails thrown at their house, an array of fireworks launched at their yard, and many bottles of paint thrown at their car. For more details, see here and here. In February 2022, the police closed off the home of the Yoshvaev family to guests and visitors, including workers who were needed to repair arson damage. The barriers were removed one month later in light of a petition to the High Court of Justice.