Please click here for a list of posts relating to cases in which Honenu provided legal counsel to victims of antisemitic attacks in Jerusalem.
Honenu Attorney Steiner; Photo credit Honenu
Sunday, June 11, 2023, 8:48 Arab security guards at Independence Park in Jerusalem brutally assaulted a Jewish man on Jerusalem Day (May 18-19). After the attack, the victim filed a complaint with the police. In response, the police summoned him for interrogation under warning because they suspected him of assaulting the guards. Honenu Attorney Ophir Steiner, who is representing the victim, wrote a letter to the police demanding that they arrest the assailants and put them on trial:
“On Jerusalem Day, my client arrived at Independence Park in Jerusalem to enjoy the day’s celebrations. He approached a venue at which a closed performance was being held. The guards at the venue approached him and asked him to leave. In response, he immediately and without any resistance walked away from the venue. He noticed that five or six guards, all of them Arabs, were leaving the venue and moving quickly toward an indeterminate place. This piqued the victim’s curiosity, who wondered what caused all the guards to leave the venue and hurry somewhere together. He decided to follow the guards from a distance.
“One guard noticed that the victim was following them and rushed toward him. He shoved the victim with his hands while loudly yelling at him. The startled victim attempted to escape from the guard, but before he could get away, the rest of the guards noticed what was happening and rushed toward them. Then, all the guards, in tandem, brutally beat him. Some of them called out racial slurs such as ‘Itbah al Yahud’ (Slaughter the Jew). The victim could not escape from the guards, who continued to pummel him, inflicting injuries all over his body. They stopped only when two border police officers arrived on the scene, physically intervened, and released the victim from their hold.”
Attorney Steiner revealed that the victim was interrogated as a suspect after submitting a complaint at the police station: “That same night, the victim filed a complaint at the Lev HaBira Police Station. To his surprise, he was summoned later for interrogation under warning. Then, the police presented him with false testimonies that the guards had given, attributing blame for the incident to him. According to their groundless testimonies, the victim repeatedly tried to enter the venue and physically resisted being removed. The guards even went so far as to falsely claim that the victim started the violence and that they did not react. However, the entire violent incident occurred at a distance from the venue (!), not at it, at its entrance, or even near it. Therefore, there is no basis to the assailants’ testimonies, and they are detached from reality.”
Attorney Steiner emphasized that the motivation for the assault was nationalistic and demanded that the police arrest the assailants and put them on trial: “Brutal assailants, who, absurdly, were hired to protect Israeli citizens on Jerusalem Day, attempted to cover up the violent, racially motivated attack by framing the investigation as if this were a case of ‘his word against his’ or a mutually provoked clash. The Israel Police are expected to compare the baseless testimonies of the assailants with the rest of the evidence in the case and to pay particular attention to the testimony of the victim, who came out of the brutal attack by the skin of his teeth. A thorough investigation of the brutal assailants is necessary, and they must be put on trial for their acts.”
Honenu Attorney Ophir Steiner commented on the assault: “The entire situation is absurd. Security guards who turned out to be assailants filed a false complaint in an attempt to turn the tables on the victim. We hope that the law enforcement authorities will investigate and punish the assailants for their racial crime.