Entrance to Givat Assaf; Photo credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90
Thursday, September 5, 2024, 11:21 One month ago, a demonstration was held at the Givat Assaf Junction in the Binyamin region protesting the murder of Yehonatan Deutsch, Hy”d, the previous day in a terror attack in the Jordan Valley. The protesters stood on the side of the road as ordered to by soldiers on the scene. One of the protesters started to cross the street when suddenly a car driven by an Arab swerved and ran into him. The youth was thrown into the air and seriously injured. The Arab driver fled the scene and was detained a short time later. However, the police subsequently released him without charges, claiming that the incident had been a traffic accident.
Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher, who is representing the injured youth, wrote a letter to the GOC of the Central Command, Major-General Avi Bluth demanding that the terrorist driver be arrested. Attorney Bleicher also wrote on the matter to the state comptroller’s office. In response, Attorney Bleicher was informed that the police had changed the classification of the incident from accidental to criminal. While that is an improvement, Attorney Bleicher wrote to the police demanding that they recognize the incident as a terror attack and arrest and indict the terrorist accordingly..
Attorney Bleicher said, “We thank the police for changing their decision regarding the incident and starting to treat it as an intentional act. We expect them to investigate it as a terror attack, which necessitates the immediate arrest of the terrorist and the involvement of the counter-terror department of the police and the GSS in the investigation of the attack to bring the terrorist to trial and neutralize the danger he poses to the public. We hope that the correct conclusion will be reached, and that from now on, incidents of this sort will be immediately treated as terror attacks.”
One week after the attack, the injured youth received a phone call from the police demanding that he come into the police station for interrogation on suspicion of rushing onto the road. Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher, who is representing the injured youth, wrote a sharply-worded letter to the police regarding their treatment of his client. Among other points, he stated: “The phone call and interrogation have raised suspicions of an attempt to threaten a terror victim into silence. The arrest of the terrorist and deterrence of similar attacks is not a personal interest of my client but a national imperative.”