Please click here for a list of posts relating to cases in which Honenu provided legal counsel to victims of antisemitic attacks in Jerusalem.
Honenu Attorney Bleicher; Photo credit: Honenu
Tuesday, June 6, 2023, 10:27 Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher wrote a letter to the police demanding that they arrest an Arab cleaner working for the Cleanor cleaning and maintenance services company who attacked a Jewish woman in front of her young daughters in the Egged parking lot in Jerusalem in late May. Although two weeks had passed since the attack and the identity of the assailant is known and was given to the police, he had not yet been arrested.
Attorney Bleicher described the incident in the letter: “My client was driving her car with her four young daughters when traffic problems arose due to a protest taking place on adjacent streets. Traffic police officers directed all of the drivers, including my client, to enter the Egged parking lot and exit from the opposite side. My client was in line with the other vehicles passing through the boom barrier at the entrance to the lot and advanced slowly. At some point, the Arab cleaner from the Cleanor company noticed my client, who dresses as a religious woman, wearing a headscarf.
“Suddenly and for no apparent reason, the cleaner approached her car, forcefully beat on its roof, and kicked the body of the car as he shouted in Arabic. My client implored him to allow her to pass. However, he slapped and punched her in the face through her open window. He also beat with his fists on the rear windows where her daughters were sitting and startled them.”
Attorney Bleicher added more details of the attack: “The girls were extremely frightened by the situation, burst into tears, and pleaded with their mother to escape. She tried to proceed, but the assailant stood in front of her car and did not allow her to drive. Then, the assailant grabbed my client’s arm and twisted it backward, forcing her to grab the steering wheel with her other hand. My client yelled at him to let her go, but he continued to punch and slap her. In the end, he also broke her left rear-view mirror. My client managed to advance a bit and then got out of her car to photograph the assailant. However, he jumped on her and threw her phone from her hand to the ground, which severely damaged it.
“A Hareidi driver noticed what was happening and got out of his car to assist her, at which point the Arab stopped the assault. Following the assault my client saw Arab drivers at the scene approaching the assailant and instructing him to go to the hospital and say that she had tried to run him over,” wrote Attorney Bleicher. In his letter, he cited that there was a security camera at the site of the attack that recorded the incident and that the identity of the assailant was known to the victim, who informed the police of the assault. As of now, the assailant has not been arrested.
In conclusion, Attorney Bleicher wrote, “This was an extremely severe incident. The despicable nationalistic attack on a woman in her car in front of her young daughters by a violent man must not be ignored. He must be penalized to the full extent of the law for his serious acts – the beating, arm twisting, and endangering human life in a traffic lane, and the financial damage to her cell phone and car. This incident should be treated with due severity, and a thorough investigation of the incident must be launched in order to put the abominable assailant on trial.”
Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher commented on the attack: “Time after time, Israeli citizens face the Islamic terror that lies in wait for an opportunity to cruelly and indiscriminately injure and humiliate them. The Israel Police and other law enforcement authorities must act with all means available to eradicate the terror that attacks us from within.”