Damaged car; Photo courtesy of the photographer
Wednesday, July 28, 2021, 15:18 In mid-July, R., a Jewish resident of Ma’aleh Adumim was brutally attacked by Arabs in the city as he was driving his car. Four Arabs who had stopped traffic approached R. after he asked them what they were doing. One of the Arabs cursed R., threatened to murder him, and tried to open his door by reaching through the open driver’s side window.
R. attempted to drive away, but the assailant kicked his car and tried to break the windows as he spit at him. R. called the police and got out of his car. At that moment, the four Arabs knocked him to the ground, beat him, kicked him in the face and all over his body. Bleicher: “My client felt that his life was in danger and that he was liable to die. He succeeded in escaping after the first assailant tried to choke him.”
One of the assailants threw two large rocks at R., which hit his car and shattered its mirror, and then ran after R. Policemen who arrived on the scene took details from R. and his assailants, while “in front of the policemen, an assailant continued to attack and attempt to injure my client. The policemen detained him.”
Among his injuries, R. suffered from pains in his back, face, and legs as a result of the attack. Also, his right eye was injured, his knee swelled and he required treatment at a Terem Medical Center.
The police informed Bleicher that suspects, including minors, had been detained, and that indictments had been filed against them. However, they refused to issue R. authorization that he was a victim of terror, because “the circumstances of the incident do not point to a nationalistic motive or one based on the religion of the victim.”
Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher, who is representing R., leveled criticism at the decision: “The terrorists entered the city in order to injure Jews out of antisemitic, racist motivations. They started with harassing motorists on the road and ended with a horrific attack on my client. It is a shame that the law enforcement system has not yet realized the extent of the war that the Islamists are waging on the State of Israel and Jewish citizens thereof.”