One of the injured students; Photo credit: Free use
Tuesday, February 9, 2021, 8:52 On Sunday, February 7, at the Mifgash Arbel gas station outside of Migdal in the north of Israel, Arabs attacked a group of Breslev yeshiva students, with metal bars. The assailants also called out racist statements and pulled the students’ payot. One of the suspects was detained by the Teverya Police and the following day he was identified at the police station by one of the complainants as his assailant.
Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher, who is representing the victims, sent a letter to the Teverya Police demanding that they penalize the assailants to the full extent of the law: “My clients were driving from Teverya on northbound Route 90. At the exit from the city, suddenly a vehicle blocked them for no apparent reason. The driver [my client] switched lanes and then noticed, to his horror, that the other driver had in his raised hand an object that looked like a pistol.
“My clients fled the scene in a panic, with the threatening car speeding after them. [The assailants] tried to block them a few more times, but they succeeded in evading them. My clients noticed that they were running out of gas so they pulled into the Mifgash Arbel gas station.”
The students told Bleicher that when one of them got out of the car, the threatening car suddenly pulled up, then one of the assailants stepped out calling “Allahu akbar,” and hit the student over the head with a metal bar.
The letter continues: “As my client defended himself, three more assailants got out of their car and viciously beat two minors [who were among the yeshiva students]. Then the assailants joined the first assailant, jumped on my client, beat him with their hands, their knees and with metal bars in his face and all over his body.”
One of the injured students; Photo credit: Free use
The assailants got back into their car and then the driver drove wildly in the direction of the victims as he shouted, “Allahu akbar – I’m going to run you over.” One of the victims jumped over a fence to save his life. Then the driver tried to run over another victim. The victims were evacuated to the Poriya Hospital in Teverya with serious injuries. One of the injured required stitches in his ear and suffered an injury to his eye socket which is liable to cause a tear in his retina. Another victim suffered an injury to his jaw and required stitches in his lips.
More from the letter: “The gas station has security cameras which recorded the incident. The police came to the scene, saw the serious injuries and the details of the incident. This was an antisemitic attack which only by a miracle did not end in murder.
“I demand that all that is necessary be done to bring the terrorists to trial for aggravated assault/attempted murder. I demand that the documentation from the security cameras [in the gas station] and/or from the road security cameras at the scene/leading to the scene be gathered as soon as possible. Additionally, I demand that intelligence operations be carried out in order to apprehend the terrorists.”
Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher: “Once again there has been an antisemitic attack on hassidim. The assailants simply found victims, chased them, and viciously beat them. We hope that the police will handle this incident with the proper consideration. The attack occurred at a gas station and was recorded on the security cameras, and therefore the assailants can be easily apprehended. We hope that we will start to see deterrence from the police and from the courts against those who attack Jews only because they are Jewish.”