Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher; Photo credit: Honenu
Sunday, September 13, 2020, 18:25 Following a letter from Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher to the Jerusalem Police, an investigative case has been reopened against an Arab suspect who humiliated and spit at R., a 71-year-old Jewish man, on the eve of the Shavuot holiday (this year May 28-29) near Sha’ar Shechem (Damascus Gate) in the Old City of Jerusalem. The head of the Jerusalem District investigations department replied that “we found that there are grounds to open the investigative case that was closed.”
Bleicher welcomed the decision to reopen the investigation: “We expect that this time justice will be done and the antisemitic assailant who set as his goal the humiliation of a Jew in the heart of Jerusalem will be penalized. We intend to file a civil suit against the assailant after the criminal proceedings have been completed.”
In his letter Bleicher stated that R. was assaulted as he walked with his grandson up the stairs near Sha’ar Shechem. “[An Arab] approached him and spit at his back, only because he was a Jew with a Jewish appearance. My client’s clothing was stained by the large amount of phlegm.” R.’s grandson identified the assailant and walked with his grandfather to the closest police checkpoint. Then they walked to the Merchav David (Old City) Police Station to file a complaint against the assailant and the grandson testified that the assault was intentional.
Later, R. was informed that the the assailant had been detained and released after he claimed that the assault had not been intentional. “To my client’s surprise the case was closed on the grounds of lack of criminal culpability.” To the best of R.’s knowledge, the assault was documented by security cameras at the site.
In his letter, Bleicher noted that his client is an IDF veteran who served in most of Israel’s wars, including the Six Day War, the War of Attrition, the Yom Kippur War, and the First Lebanon War. “It is intolerable that at my client’s advanced age, after he sacrificed so much for all of us in the State of Israel, he is assaulted and humiliated in the streets of Israel, and then the assailant is immediately released and the case closed.”