Honenu Attorney Moshe Poleski; Photo credit: Honenu
Wednesday, January 29, 2025, 9:26 The Petah Tikva Magistrates Court acquitted a Shomron resident who was charged with attacking an Arab near Ariel six years ago. The resident, who served as the civilian head of security in Ariel at the time, was called to assist when Arabs harvesting olives near the city clashed with soldiers after refusing orders to leave the site.
The soldiers detained one of the Arabs, who was known to the authorities and had been convicted of throwing Molotov cocktails. A short time afterward, another Arab tried to grab a soldier’s weapon. The head of security immediately acted and prevented the detainee and the other Arabs from approaching the soldiers until they overpowered the Arab who had tried to grab the soldier’s weapon.
One and a half years later, the head of security was interrogated, charged with assaulting the detained Arab, and indicted. At the end of a long legal battle fought by Honenu Attorney Moshe Poleski, the Petah Tikva Magistrates Court acquitted the head of security of all charges.
Attorney Poleski described the incident: “The head of security is a well-respected member of the community who has served the State of Israel in various security positions for his entire life. Over the past year, he served over 200 days of reserve duty. He was summoned to assist soldiers at the site of a clash that ensued after Arabs refused to follow the soldiers’ orders. The Arabs resisted the orders to the point that the deputy company commander was forced to detain one of them. During the incident, the detainee’s brother tried to grab one of the soldiers’ weapons, which could have easily led to a situation endangering the lives of everyone at the scene. Furthermore, the detainee tried to help his brother grab the weapon.
“The head of security did not have any choice other than to apply force and pin the detained Arab to the ground. Despite that, he continued to resist and tried to help his brother grab the weapon. My client continued to apply force and succeeded in calming the situation. I will note that during the mediation hearing, a judge expressed the opinion that under the circumstances of the incident, there were no grounds to indict my client. However, inexplicably, the accuser, the Prosecution Department of the Yehuda and Shomron Police, objected and insisted on pursuing the case. During the extremely prolonged proceedings, my client was forced to fight to prove his innocence.
“At the evidentiary phase, the court completely accepted the testimony of my client, who acted solely out of operational and practical considerations, and rejected out of hand the Arab’s testimony. It is not clear to me how all of the law enforcement authorities handling the case lost their sense of judgment. Why did the Prosecution Department of the Yehuda and Shomron Police trust the testimony of an Arab who had been convicted of throwing Molotov cocktails and not that of a citizen who has served the State of Israel for many years in the IDF, the Israel Police, and in various civilian positions? The court acquitted my client only after a prolonged legal battle during which eyewitnesses gave testimony and a video recording of the incident was viewed. We thank the court for the acquittal. We can only regret that my client suffered greatly from the prolonged legal proceedings.”