Honenu Attorney Avichai Hajbi; Photo credit: Honenu
Tuesday, July 29, 2025, 16:20 On Monday afternoon, local Jewish residents were doing groundwork for a neighborhood within the municipality of Carmel, a community in the Har Hevron region. Suddenly, they were attacked by an Arab mob accompanied by foreign activists. The mob and the activists had come from Umm al-Khair, an Arab village in Area C, and headed for the Jewish community of Carmel. They violently threw rocks at the residents, who were several meters from homes in Carmel. They also broke the windshields of residents’ cars and that of an excavator. One of the attacked residents, feeling that his life was endangered, fired his weapon into the air. The Arabs at the scene claimed that one Arab was injured, and that he was later pronounced dead.
Immediately after the incident, left-wing activists, among them Moshe Radman, MK Ofer Cassif, MK Ayman Odeh, Yariv Oppenheimer, and other Peace Now activists, shared posts in social media. Some of the posts were libelous, and included doctored and deceptively edited videos.
The Har Hevron resident who fired a warning shot in self-defense was detained. The day after the incident, a hearing took place at the Jerusalem Magistrate Court. Attorney Hajbi demanded the detainee’s release, whereas the police demanded a remand extension. Judge Havi Toker released the detainee. The police requested a delay in carrying out the decision. Also at the hearing, it was revealed that five Arab assailants were detained at the Carmel incident. The IDF intends to bring them to the military court for a remand extension.
Prior to the hearing, Honenu Attorney Avichai Hajbi, who is representing the detainee, expressed his objection to the detention and said that the police had caved in to pressures from left-wing activists. Attorney Hajbi: “The desire of the Israel Police to extend the remand of the Jewish Har Hevron resident who was attacked by a rock-throwing mob is a serious matter. The detainee’s life and that of another resident were endangered.
“What is even more serious is that the Israel Police caved in to the dictates of Knesset members, such as Ayman Odeh and Ofer Cassif, and Peace Now activists, including Yariv Oppenheimer, who have already decided who the guilty party is. I am certain that in the end, after examining the evidence, the court will release my client.”