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 Chayim Bleicher; Photo credit: Honenu
Sunday, August 27, 2023, 10:37 In mid-August, Arabs attacked a Jewish family in the City of David neighborhood of Jerusalem after they reproached an Arab driver for reckless driving. In response, the Arabs in the car and others at the scene punched them, smashed their heads into a wall, and sprayed them with pepper spray. Five attackers were detained, but the State Attorney’s Office transferred the investigative case to a prosecuting unit of the police that cannot indict defendants for either acts of terror or racially motivated crimes. Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher sent a letter to the Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office asking them to resume handling the investigative case that they had transferred to the police.
In his letter, Attorney Bleicher described the attack: “My clients, two brothers in their teens, were standing with their mother on Ma’alot Street in the City of David after visiting the Shiloah Pool. Suddenly, a car emerged from the top of the street and sped recklessly on the narrow street where my clients were standing. My startled clients called out to the driver to slow down because his driving was dangerous. To their shock, in response to the legitimate request, the driver stopped his car in the middle of the street. The Arab passengers got out and approached my clients with malicious intent in a threatening manner.
“Additional Arab youths came out of the houses lining the street and joined them. It seemed as if they had been waiting for an excuse to attack my Jewish clients. The Arabs punched my clients in their heads and smashed their heads against a wall. Their mother tried to protect them, but [the Arabs] mercilessly attacked her too. The attackers also sprayed my clients with pepper spray directly in their faces, causing them great pain and suffering.”
Attorney Bleicher described the transfer of the case from the police to the Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office, and then back to the police: “According to the crime victim notification system, five terrorists who took part in the attack were arrested. Also, the case was transferred by the police to the Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office for filing an indictment for racially motivated assault. Inexplicably and unreasonably, the case has been returned to the prosecution department of the police, which is not able to indict the terrorists for racially motivated acts of terror.”
Attorney Bleicher emphasized the importance of prosecuting the Arab assailants and identifying the nationalistic motive: “This was a terror attack, aggravated assault by a racially motivated group. The scene of the attack is infamous for dozens if not hundreds of terror attacks on Jews by Arabs loitering on the street. The despicable terrorists were looking for any opportunity to injure Jews for being Jews. The incident began with a reproach to a reckless driver heading toward my clients, but many assailants quickly gathered to carry out an attack. The common characteristic of all the assailants, Jew-hating Arabs, indicates the antisemitic intents that are always present among them.
“The cruelty of the attack on my clients and the participation of the mob in the act demonstrates the antisemitic intent that motivates the terrorists. I ask you to immediately transfer the handling of the case back to the Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office and work toward indicting the assailants for acts of terror and racially motivated crimes. The terrorists must also be held in remand.”