Please click here for a list of posts relating to cases in which Honenu provided legal counsel to victims of antisemitic attacks in Jerusalem.
Photo courtesy of the victim
Sunday, January 16, 2022, 9:36 An Arab assaulted a Jewish youth as he was walking on Agripas Street in center city Jerusalem in early January. When policemen arrived on the scene, the assailant decided to falsely accuse the victim, and so the police detained and interrogated both sides. Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher sent a letter to the Lev HaBira Police Station in Jerusalem on behalf of the youth, demanding that the assailant be brought to trial. The police replied that the case was still under investigation and that the incident was being handled decisively and appropriately.
Bleicher reacted to the incident and the response from the police: “Unfortunately, the safety and security of Jews has become worthless in the eyes of Islamic activists, many of whom carry out acts of terror while being employed in stores and other businesses in center city Jerusalem. Time after time they allow themselves to violently attack Jews when they ‘don’t like the looks of them’. We demand that the police decisively prosecute this assailant, and for our part, we will follow the criminal proceedings and sue him for damages in a civil suit, in order to help eradicate organized and lone-wolf terror.”
In his letter to the police, Bleicher explained how the attack unfolded: “My client was viciously attacked on Agripas Street by Arabs. My client, a kippa-wearing Jew who attends a yeshiva close to the scene [of the attack] was walking on Agripas Street, keeping to himself, when suddenly an Arab driving a cart came up and bumped into him. My client called out to him ‘Be careful,’ and continued on his way without attributing any importance to the incident.
“To his shock, the Arab blatantly cursed him with a racist slur. Stunned, my client turned towards the Arab and asked him what he was doing. Without any hesitation, [the Arab] raised his fist and punched [my client] in his eye socket. From the force of the punch, my client fell to the ground and collapsed. While he was still on the ground, [the Arab] continued to punch him in the face, which caused my client bruises around his eye and bleeding in his eye.
“When the police arrived to detain the assailant, he made false accusations against my client, and continued to curse him. In response, the police chose to detain my client also, and took him to the police station, where he was interrogated under warning. My client waited at the station for approximately three hours, while he was bleeding around his eye. After he was released, my client went to a Terem [Emergency Medical] Clinic for treatment.”
In conclusion, Bleicher demanded that the assailant be detained and brought to trial: “I demand that the assailant be brought to trial as soon as possible for nationalistically motivated assault and battery. He must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, and be held under severe remand conditions during legal proceedings.