Purim assault in Old City Jerusalem

Tuesday, March 31, 2020, 9:46 On the Purim holiday, Wednesday, March 11, an 18-year-old yeshiva student was assaulted by an Arab who beat him, without any cause, as he walked through the Old City of Jerusalem. The student fled and the following morning filed a complaint with the police. Three days later, when he called the police station, he was surprised to discover that the case had been closed without any explanation.
The student was walking to his host’s home in the Old City, when as he passed a group of Arabs one of them suddenly started to beat him. “One of them got up, kicked me in the stomach and punched me in the face. The blow hurt me for several days afterwards. The following day, Thursday, I filed a complaint with the police. When I called on Sunday to ask what was happening with the case, they told me that the case had been closed. They didn’t explain why. I feel like the police aren’t giving me any respect.”
Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher, who is representing the student, sent a letter to the Merchav David (Old City) Police, requesting the investigative material of the case so that he could appeal its closing. Additionally, he requested verification that the police had gathered video clips from the security cameras at the site of the attack. In his letter Bleicher mentioned that, “This was a repugnant antisemitically motivated attack. The law-enforcement authorities must eradicate this serious phenomenon.”
Bleicher: “The attack on the yeshiva student is part of a wide-spread phenomenon of nationalistically motivated antisemitic attacks on Jews. Therefore the law-enforcement authorities must handle every such attack with the utmost seriousness, and eradicate this serious phenomenon by arresting assailants and bringing them to trial. We demand that the police reopen the case and arrest the assailant. We intend to appeal the closing of the case with the Attorney General’s office.”