The assault victim; Photo credit: Free use
Thursday, May 14, 2020, 11:22 On Tuesday, May 12, in the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood of Jerusalem, Arab traffic inspectors assaulted a hareidi man in his twenties after he got out of his car and moved one of the cones that they had placed on the street. Several eye witnesses filed a complaint with the police and also submitted video recordings of the incident: One of the traffic inspectors knocked the man to the ground, hit him and kicked him. In the video he is seen lying on the street, bleeding, as passers-by help him.
The assault victim was taken by MDA personnel to a hospital emergency room, and from there he was taken to the police station, where he filed a complaint and was interrogated under warning. All of the eye witnesses corroborated with the victim’s testimony and described how he was seriously assaulted. On the day after the assault, the victim was treated again at the hospital and then released to his home in the afternoon. Despite the documentation and the testimonies of the eye witnesses, the police released the assailants immediately after interrogation.
One of the eye witnesses described the incident: “The hareidi man was assaulted for no reason. It was shocking. His entire mouth was bleeding. I tried to help him. They really hit him hard. There were a few assailants. We called the police and they detained one of the assailants. One of the Arabs had a baton. The police found it in their car.”
Honenu Attorney Moshe Poleski, who is assisting the crime victim: “It is intolerable for a citizen to be assaulted on a public street, violently, by traffic inspectors, with no cause. The victim required medical treatment and was evacuated by MDA personnel to a hospital. To our great shock, despite the brutality of the assault, which caused a substantial bruise, the Israeli Police chose to release the assailants after a short interrogation, despite the clear documentation and the detailed testimonies of the incident from passers-by. We call on the police to immediately detain the assailants, to extend their remand, to bring them to trial, and not to abandon the personal safety of the residents of Jerusalem.”