Please click here for a list of posts relating to cases in which Honenu provided legal counsel to victims of antisemitic attacks in Jerusalem.
Screenshot; the attack; Video courtesy of the videographer
Friday, August 5, 2022, 7:57 On Sunday (July 31), an Arab attacked a Hareidi man who was distributing water to participants of the funeral of Rabbi Yitzhak Tuvia Weiss, ztz”l, the head of HaEida HaHareidit, at the Mount of Olives Cemetery. At the last moment, a border policeman stopped the attacker before he smashed the victim’s head with a metal rod. (See video clip below.)
Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher sent a letter to the Jerusalem Police describing the attack and demanding that the attacker’s remand be extended. Summary of the letter:
Y. drove his van to distribute water to the many participants of the funeral who were walking in the heat. Suddenly, while he was stopped at the side of the road and pouring water out of the window of his van, an Arab transport driver driving in the opposite direction stopped next to him. The Arab driver yelled at him, “Death to all Jews,” grabbed his arm roughly, and beat it on the door of the van.
Injured and in pain, Y. angrily complained to the attacker. Then the attacker turned his vehicle around and started to drive toward Y, who sped off in order to evade the attacker who was chasing him. The attacker increased his speed and tried to ram the Jewish driver’s van into a wall.
Y. fled in the direction of Sha’ar Shechem (Damascus Gate). The attacker continued his pursuit and even rammed Y.’s van several times. In the end, Y. was forced to stop at a red light. He noticed to his horror that the attacker was walking toward him holding a long and threatening metal rod.
In a video clip of the incident, the attacker is seen charging the driver’s side window where Y. was sitting, waving the metal rod, and smashing the window. The attacker waved his arm again and attempted to beat Y. directly on his head. Miraculously, at the very last moment, a border policeman arrived and pushed the attacker away. Y. filed a complaint with the police, and a friend who was with him gave testimony.
This was an extreme incident of violence. A dangerous terrorist acted in an extreme and uninhibited manner, without any self-restraint to prevent him from further violence. He poses a high level of danger to additional citizens. His acts began with an antisemitic attack, worsened to endangering life in a traffic lane, and concluded with attempted murder as he tried to beat my client on the head with a metal rod. A serious and humiliating aspect of this act is that it was carried out during a funeral of an important rabbi with a large number of participants and against someone who was simply distributing water.
I ask the Jerusalem District Commander to act toward extending the remand of the suspect and putting him on trial for racially motivated assault, endangering human life in a traffic lane, and attempted murder.
The attack; Video courtesy of the videographer