Thursday, June 28, 2018, 12:06 On Tuesday, June 26, a Jewish youth was severely
Assaulted youth; Photo courtesy of the photographer
assaulted by several Arabs at the Oz Tzion outpost near the Givat Assaf Junction in the Binyamin region. He suffered broken ribs, a punctured lung, a head injury that required stitches, and is being hospitalized at the Sha’arei Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem. The police detained a suspect, but quickly released him. As of this posting, a day after the assault, an investigator has not yet arrived at the hospital to take a complaint from the injured youth. Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher: “This was a serious assault, that could have easily ended in murder.”
On Wednesday, the youth, as a victim of terror, requested assistance from Honenu. Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher arrived at the hospital, took testimony from him and verified details of the incident. From verification with the police, Bleicher discovered that they had detained one of the assailants immediately after the incident, but released him shortly thereafter.
Bleicher sent an urgent letter to the Yehuda and Shomron Police Commander in which he detailed the assault: “At the time my client was present at the [Oz Tzion] hilltop an approximately 40-year old shepherd accompanied by a child approached him. When my client approached them and asked from a distance what they were doing, the shepherd began to throw rocks at my client and called on his cellphone for more rioters to come to the scene.
“My client attempted to summon help, but did not succeed. Within a short time two young Arabs arrived in a car and began to throw rocks at my client and approached him with clubs. My client attempted to back away while facing his assailants so as not to be injured by the rocks that were starting to hit him. All the while my client heard the older rioter [the shepherd] calling out to the youths to “slaughter” him,” described Bleicher.
Bleicher described the blows which seriously injured the youth: “At this stage one of the assailants reached my client and hit him over the head with a club. My client collapsed on the ground as the assailant continued to beat him. My client succeeded in raising himself a bit and then received another blow to the head which knocked him down again. At this point my client felt as if his life was about to end and with the last of his strength he managed to roll several meters away from the assailant and to escape towards the road. The assailants took the cellphone which had fallen from my client. My client called out for help from passersby on the road and from the soldiers who were at the T-intersection and directed them towards the fleeing suspects.”
Bleicher detailed the youth’s injuries: “At the hospital my client was diagnosed with cuts to his head, fractured ribs and pneumothorax (abnormal collection of air in the chest cavity) resulting from a punctured lung. It is still not known how long my client will need to be hospitalized.
“Apparently the assailants filmed the incident on their cellphones. Also my client informed me that the assailants had time to take showers and change their clothes before army forces arrived. However the soldiers were able to get their hands on the assailants’ clothes and the cellphone that had fallen from my client. From what I have found out, the suspects who had been apprehended have already been released.”
In conclusion Bleicher demanded that the police immediately detain the assailants: “This was a grave incident with serious consequences motivated by the fact that my client is an Israeli Jew. I demand the immediate detention of the assailants and a thorough investigation of the incident. The police have not yet bothered to take a complaint from my client about the assault. I demand that an investigator arrive as soon as possible at the hospital to record a complaint from my client.”
Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher sharply responded to the incident: “This was a severe assault, which could have easily ended in murder. The assailants are dangerous terrorists and the law enforcement and security authorities must immediately apprehend the suspects. Unfortunately the suspects were released at the time of the incident. However now that the details of the incident are becoming clear, they should be detained without delay. We, the Department of Terror Victims at Honenu, intend to continue to follow this case until the terrorists have been prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”