Assault victim; Photo courtesy of the photographer
Please click here for a list of posts relating to cases in which Honenu provided legal counsel to victims of antisemitic attacks in Jerusalem.
Monday, October 11, 2021, 9:14 Approximately a week and a half ago, two brothers, yeshiva students in their 20s, were assaulted by a group of Arabs as they were walking on the Via Dolorosa in the Old City of Jerusalem one evening. Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher, who is representing the brothers, sent a letter to the Merchav David (Old City) Police with the following description of the incident and demanded that a detained suspect remain under house arrest until the end of proceedings:
The brothers passed by two Arabs sitting on the street, who cursed them for no reason. An argument ensued, and then the Arabs demanded that the brothers “Get out of here”. When the brothers did not move, “the Arabs immediately assaulted them, shoved them, cursed them and threatened them”. A group of Arab youths joined in the assault, cursing and attacking the brothers.
“One of the youths went so far as to kick a ball hard, directly into the face of my client, which turned completely red.” The brothers called the police. However, when two border policemen arrived on the scene, they were unable to overcome the large number of assailants.
One of the brothers was punched in the stomach and also slammed into the wall bordering the street, in full sight of the border policemen. The mob tore the shirt of the other brother. The assault ended only when the border policemen succeeded in separating the brothers from the assailants and bringing them to the other side of the security fence. Even then, “one of the assailants, who saw that he could not reach my client because he was being shielded by the border policemen, went so far as to spit in the face of my client, a disgraceful and repulsive act.”
The brothers filed a complaint with the police, and were informed that one of the assailants had been detained. The court ordered him released to five days of house arrest, and Bleicher demanded an extension: “The suspect must remain under house arrest until the end of proceedings. Assault on Jews only because they are Jews is nationalistic terror in every way. The detained assailant and his friends constitute a substantial danger to the public. I call on the police to prosecute the detainee to the full extent of the law and to do everything possible in order to apprehend the other assailants and bring them to trial.”