Monday, December 22, 2014, 8:17 On Shabbat, the evening of Friday, November 21, as a
Shirt worn by Beit Orot stabbing victim
group of eight young Jewish worshipers walked from Beit HaHoshen to Yeshivat Beit Orot on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem they encountered an ambush of approximately 100 Arabs who attacked them with rocks, metal rods, knives and fire-bombs. One of the youths was struck with a blunt object and another was stabbed in the back and evacuated to hospital in moderate condition. The knife penetrated one of his lungs and he required hospitalization for a prolonged period of time due to the necessary medical treatments. The police quickly released an announcement to the news media according to which the incident was a “mutual clash” between Arab and Jewish youth.
A public campaign launched by the injured youths and a demand from Honenu on behalf of
Stabbing victim in hospital
the youths brought about an admission from the police that the Beit Orot incident was a terror attack and an authorization that the injured youth are terror victims. On Sunday, December 21 the Israeli Police authorized that the attack near Yeshivat Beit Orot will be officially recognized as a terror attack. Honenu attorney Hur Uriel Nizri received the authorization.
“Once again after a campaign and legal efforts it has been proven that an incident originally claimed by the police to be criminally motivated was in fact a nationalistically motivated terror attack,” said Honenu attorney Hur Uriel Nizri who represented the attacked youths. “My clients, who suffered serious injuries, received only yesterday recognition as victims of a terror attack. We are witness to a sad phenomenon in which recognition as a victim of terror is not automatic but achieved only after a campaign. It has been thus in the murder cases of Rabbi Talbi, Asher and Yonatan Palmer, Sheli Dadon, Netanel Arami, Hy”d, the case of the soldiers injured at El-Arub and most recently the murder case of Avi Ben-Tzion, Hy”d. We call on the authorities to stop this worrisome trend and to cease covering up the murder of Jews.”
As the organizers of a demonstration protesting the conduct of the authorities handling the investigation of Netanel Arami’s death stated, “Unfortunately the Israeli Police have a history of attempting to conceal terror attacks. In the case of Rabbi Talbi Hy”d, the police originally claimed that his murder was a suicide. In the case of Asher Palmer and his infant son Yonatan, Hy”d, the police claimed that the terror attack was a traffic accident. In the case of Shelly Dadon, Hy”d, her murder was recognized as a nationalistically motivated attack only after a successful campaign was organized by her family.”