Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher; Photo credit: Honenu
Tuesday, September 1, 2020, 14:53 A Jerusalem family is suing three Arabs, who were convicted of throwing Molotov cocktails at their house, for 510,000 NIS. At the time of the attack most of the members of the family were at home, the youngest of whom was the six-month-old son of the eldest daughter.
Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher filed the suit on behalf of the family. The suit states that on Yom Kippur 2013, three Arabs threw Molotov cocktails at the family’s house, which caused a fire on their porch, causing a great deal of damage. Damage was caused to the wooden pergola, a wading pool, a wooden table and chairs, clothing, and school supplies. More damage was likely to have been caused to the family and their house if not for the efforts of the fire-fighters.
Some of the claimants were in the house at the time and “felt that their lives were in substantial danger”. Other claimants returned home from Yom Kippur prayers and discovered emergency and fire-fighting personnel extinguishing the fire. They were “horrified by the sight and concerned for the safety of their loved ones who had remained at home.”
Criminal proceedings were started against the assailants, at the end of which a plea bargain agreement was signed, in the framework of which they admitted to the charges in the indictment, among them: production of a weapon, arson and attempted arson. Active prison terms, suspended sentences, and payment of compensation to the family were imposed on the assailants.
The family is suing the assailants. The suit states that all of the family “carries in their hearts the events of the day and the feeling of loss of personal security they felt when they returned to their home – their castle – and saw it attacked and set on fire in an attempt to burn down the house with the household.”
The financial as well as the physical and emotional damages to the family were calculated in the suit. “The incident constitutes a childhood trauma for the children of the family and a severe trauma for the parents, particularly the mother, who felt a great danger for herself and her children and extreme helplessness. She was concerned that the entire house would burst into flames and her children would be burnt alive.”
Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher, who is representing the family: “We will continue to make every effort to extract a high price from the terrorists who act against Israelis due to their nationality and Jewishness. From now on, a terrorist who goes out to cause harm knows that he will be subject to legal proceedings, even years after the attack, at the end of which he will be forced to compensate, out of his own pocket, those whose lives he had tried to take. We believe that action of this sort will have a great influence on the deterrence of terrorists and will increase the security of Israeli citizens.”