Entrance to Givat Assaf; Photo credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90
Monday, August 19, 2024, 15:01 One week 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 toward him 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 released him, claiming that the incident had been a traffic accident. This morning (Monday) 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.
In his letter, Attorney Bleicher stated that the police threatened the injured youth: “Unfortunately, in order to prevent disturbances, the police at the scene announced that the incident was a traffic accident and began to cover up the attack. The undersigned wrote to many authorities demanding that [the classification] of the attack as an accident be corrected. However, senior police officials decided to fight the victim instead of the terrorist. This morning, a traffic inspector from the Yehuda and Shomron Police phoned my client and informed him that he must report to an ‘interrogation’ at the Yehuda and Shomron Police Station by 12:00 as he was accused of rushing onto the road and crossing at a red light. My client, a 17-year-old youth, replied that he lives in the north, in Nof HaGalil, is currently wheelchair-bound as a result of the injuries received in the attack, and could not come in for interrogation at the time stipulated. The inspector then threatened my client with an arrest warrant if he did not appear by 12:00 at the station. My client’s mother then continued the conversation with the inspector, who threatened to report them for obstructing the interrogation. After she repeatedly explained that arriving by 12:00 today was impossible, the inspector informed them that they had until 12:00 on Wednesday to report for interrogation.
“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. Threatening him will not remove the obligation of my client, the undersigned, and all Israeli citizens to warn against the failure occurring now. Everyone who receives this letter and does not act to rectify the apparent miscarriage of justice, even though they can, is a party to this disgrace” wrote Attorney Bleicher.
Honenu Attorney Bleicher commented on the case: “The victim and his friend who was with him described how the terrorist looked them directly in the eyes as he sped toward them, drove into the victim at full force, and fled. It seems that the police by refusing to prosecute the driver and uphold the law is allowing the terrorist to walk freely and continue his acts. Unfortunately, a similar attack occurred five years ago, when we ceaselessly warned that the terrorists were walking free, but the GSS arrested the terrorists only nine months later, when they discovered additional attacks that they were planning, and then the failure was revealed. This is not a matter of defending one’s honor and a quarrel about who was right. This concerns all of our lives. The time has come for the security forces, the police and the army, to combat the actual threat and not to engage in wishful thinking.”