Please click here for a list of posts relating to cases in which Honenu provided legal counsel to victims of antisemitic attacks in Jerusalem.
Sunday, February 6, 2022, 17:12 In a sudden attack, Arab residents threw rocks and sprayed tear gas with a fake, but realistic, pistol at yeshiva students who were passing through the Shimon HaTzadik neighborhood of Jerusalem. The police detained and released the assailants at the site. Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher, who is representing one of the students, wrote a letter to the police demanding that the assailants be detained immediately and penalized to the full extent of the law.
In the letter, Bleicher described the incident: “On 31/1/22, my client was assaulted in a threatening and cruel manner in the Shimon HaTzadik neighborhood. My client, a youth approximately 18 years of age, was walking with two friends in the Shimon HaTzadik neighborhood. When they approached the local gas station, two Arabs noticed them and started to whisper to each other in a suspicious manner.
“My client and his friends felt a bit of fear, but continued on their way. After they had passed the suspects, one of the latter shouted at one of my client’s friends, ‘Come here, boy!’ The friend turned around, and then the Jewish youths noticed that the suspect was holding a pistol and aiming it at them! They were seized by a deep fear and paralysis and felt that in another moment they would not be among the living.
“Very soon, the youths noticed that tear gas had been shot at them and felt a burning sensation and a sharp pain in their faces. Then they realized that the pistol shot tear gas, not live rounds. The youths started to run in order to escape their assailants. To their horror, the assailants chased them.
“The assailants closed in on my client after he had separated from his friends, who came to his aid. Then the assailants threw rocks at the youths, until they succeeded in escaping. Policemen detained the assailants at the scene, and took their details [then released them].
“An incident of this sort is extremely serious. In addition to the tear gas and rock attack, terrifying threats were made with a fake pistol, which caused the youths a shocking experience and a palpable feeling of danger to their lives. Islamic terror must not be allowed to pose a threat to Jews on the streets of Jerusalem. Assailants must be penalized. I demand the immediate detention of all of the assailants and their interrogation over threats and assault. The case should be transferred to the prosecution so that they can indict and prosecute them to the full extent of the law.”