Arabs assault Jewish youth during police operation

Thursday, February 9, 2017, 20:49 Examination of the investigative material in a case against four Jewish youths revealed that during an operation of mista’arvim (policemen disguised as Arabs) in the Shilo Bloc region of Binyamim, on January 16 (see here and here), Arabs who had accompanied the policemen threw rocks at Jewish youth from a nearby outpost, while the policemen did nothing. Cameras worn by the policemen recorded the assault.
This serious incident was revealed only after an indictment was filed on January 23 against the Jewish youths and the investigative material was transferred to Honenu Attorney Sinaiya Moses-Harizi, who is representing the youths. The material mentions that an investigation was opened against the Arabs on suspicion of assault and that there is documentation of the Arabs throwing rocks at the Jewish youths.
According to the indictment, two Arabs and two plain-clothes policemen arrived at the agricultural area near Geulat Tzion, in the Shilo Bloc. After a short time five Jews came out, demanded that the Arabs leave and threw rocks at them. At this point additional police forces came out of an ambush and detained four of the Jewish youths.
The documentation of the incident, which was first published on the evening of Thursday, February 9, shows that the Arabs threw rocks at the Jewish youths in sight of the policemen, who did not attempt to to stop them and also did not mention the assault in the police report they filled out after the incident. It turned out that from the start the police concealed the assault from the courts and it is not mentioned in the indictment filed against the Jewish youths.
The court ordered the release of three out of the four youths to house arrest. The court is expected to make a decision on the fourth youth within a few days. None of the Arabs assailants were detained and they have not been indicted.
In a verdict handed down by the Jerusalem Magistrate Court in December 2015 in a case involving Susiya residents detained under similar circumstances after the Yehuda and Shomron Police sent mista’arvim to approach the community, Judge Hagit Mak-Kalmanovitch ruled that the action had seriously endangered everyone involved with the incident.
“It is impossible not to wonder at the planning of the operation which endangered the safety and even the lives of the policemen,” wrote Judge Mak-Kalmanovitch in her verdict. “Any slight mishap, unplanned development, or misunderstanding between those involved [in the incident] could have caused an escalation, and the presence of weapons in the hands of the assailants, was liable to compromise the safety of the policemen and everyone involved…” wrote Judge Mak-Kalmanovitch in her verdict.
Honenu Attorney Sinaiya Moses-Harizi, who is representing the youths, stated that, “We regard with severity the fact that supposed ‘complainants’ assaulted the Jewish youths with the protection of the police while the police are concealing the assault and attempting to show a one-sided incident. I call on the Israeli Police to prosecute those responsible for the failing to the full extent of the law.”