Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher; Photo credit: Honenu
Please see here a list of posts relating to cases in which Honenu provided legal counsel to victims of antisemitic attacks in Jerusalem.
Monday, April, 26, 2021, 12:36 On Saturday, April 17, after Shabbat, a hareidi Jew was assaulted by dozens of Arabs near Sha’ar Shechem (Damascus Gate) in Jerusalem. Three days later, despite the network of security cameras in the area, the police decided to close the case because they could not locate suspects. Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher requested the investigative material and the case was reopened. Bleicher: “It is inconceivable that the case of a serious, almost unprecedented, incident on a street whose entire length is filmed, would be closed without apprehending suspects.”
In his letter to the police, Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher described the incident. B., an approximately 18-year-old hareidi yeshiva student, was walking with a friend close to Sha’ar Shechem on their way to the Western Wall. Suddenly an Arab walking past B. slapped him. Startled, B. and his friend hurried towards policemen who were near Sha’ar Shechem.
“Then, for the entire length of the street, almost all of the Muslims present slapped [B. and his friend] in the face and kicked them. My client and his friend were slapped and kicked for the entire length of the street by at least 30 Muslims, until they reached a police checkpoint.”
B. described the assault: “Every Arab who passed slapped and kicked us, 30 Arabs. My kippah flew off a few times and my glasses were bent. We walked quickly towards the Western Wall. There were policeman there and we called out to them. There was also a water cannon. They didn’t pay any attention to us.”
Bleicher noted in his letter a statement that Internal Security Minister Amir Ohana had made recently: “I instructed the Israeli Police to act decisively against all of the incidents of Arabs assaulting hareidi Jews, only because of who they were, in Jerusalem over the past few days. Such assaults should not occur anywhere in the world, and certainly not in the nation state of the People of Israel.”