Injured victim’s shirt; Photo credit: courtesy of photographer
Wednesday, December 16, 2020, 15:51 Honenu filed an appeal with the Attorney General’s office following the closing of a case against an Arab resident of East Jerusalem who threw a glass bottle at a Jewish minor, injuring his head as he walked through the Old City of Jerusalem. The suspect was apprehended by the police and admitted to the assault which was recorded by security cameras. However he did not stand trial.
From the appeal filed by Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher, who is representing the minor: “On 11/8/2019, during the Tisha B’Av fast, on HaGai Street in the Old City of Jerusalem, the appellant was hit in the head by a glass bottle, which caused him head injuries, necessitating his evacuation to the hospital. The incident was documented and a suspect by the name Makhmud Abu Truki was apprehended. He admitted to the act and connected himself to the incident, but claimed that he had been assaulted first by other Jews.
“Despite this, surprisingly, without an acceptable explanation, the case was closed by the Jerusalem District Attorney’s office and the suspect did not stand trial for injuring the appellant. Because the incident was documented, and the evidence in the case is unequivocal, the appellant asks that the appeal below be accepted and that the suspect stand trial as soon as possible. … The existing evidence included all the ‘golden evidence’ necessary to convict the suspect, from the video clips documenting the incident, including the bottle being thrown, from many angles, to the confession by the suspect, as stated below.”
Attack in the Old City of Jerusalem, 11/8/2019; Video credit: Security cameras
Bleicher justified the appeal and stated that “there is more than enough evidence of an intentional assault by means of a glass bottle filled with juice, which caused a substantial injury. In the video clips it is easy to discern that the suspect intentionally threw the bottle at Jews. On the other hand, the appellant did not assault the suspect or anyone else. His only ‘fault’ was that he walked with other people for the purpose of praying while ‘Circling the Gates’ of the Temple Mount on the day commemorating the destruction of the Holy Temple.”
Bleicher added that “the suspect attempted to assault with a chair, and when he did not succeed he assaulted by throwing a glass bottle, even though he had already been isolated from the incident and was not in any danger. The suspect hurled a glass bottle at several Jews, which hit and injured one of them. The results of the injury are serious, but could have been much worse, and could have ended with a cerebral injury to the appellant, as was the initial concern.”
Bleicher emphasized that “assaulting Jews in the Old City [of Jerusalem] is a common occurrence which should be denigrated. Action must be taken on all fronts to eradicate this phenomenon. In this case, when the suspect was apprehended for serious assault on the basis of solid evidence, he must be brought to trial and severely penalized in order to deter others from similar acts.”
The appeal concluded with a request: “Therefore the suspect should stand trial for the crime of racially motivated aggravated assault.”
Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher censured the decision by the police to close the case: “Closing the case and not having the rioter stand trial constitutes a most serious failure of the Attorney General’s office. Jews are not a punching bag for annoyed Arabs and their blood is not cheap. A terrorist who threw a glass bottle full of juice at a group of Jews with the intent of endangering their lives, and injured one of them, should be behind bars. We expect the correct conclusions to be reached and the injustice rectified by the Attorney General’s office with due haste.”