Please click here for a list of posts relating to cases in which Honenu provided legal counsel to victims of antisemitic attacks in Jerusalem.
Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher; Photo credit: Honenu
Friday, July 11, 2025, 14:19 In the framework of a civil suit filed by a yeshiva student following the conviction of his attacker, an Arab resident of Jerusalem, in criminal proceedings, Jerusalem Magistrates Court Senior Registrar Shai Tzarfati awarded the victim NIS 125,000 in compensation. The attacker did not file a statement of defense.
Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher, who is representing the yeshiva student as a crime victim stated, “Antisemitic attacks are intolerable. Their occurrence in Israel, especially in the capital city of Jerusalem is unacceptable. We will continue to use all legal means at our disposal to create deterrence and eradicate antisemitic terror.”
The attack took place four years ago, in the Old City of Jerusalem. An Arab resident of the city sprayed a yeshiva student with pepper spray as he cycled home. The Arab was arrested and charged with assault, but not racially motivated assault. He was sentenced to one months’ imprisonment in a plea bargain. The victim was awarded NIS 1,000 in compensation. Attorney Bleicher, acting on behalf of the family in civil proceedings, filed an NIS 125,000 suit against the assailant with the Jerusalem Magistrates Court in February 2025.
The statement of claim describes the attack: “The claimant was cycling home. When he reached Sha’ar Yaffo (Jaffa Gate), he turned left onto Greek Orthodox Patriarchate Street. At the beginning of the street, he noticed an Arab cycling behind him. The defendant started to pass the claimant, and as he was alongside him, shouted in his ear, cursed him, pressed his hand into his face, and gestured obscenely toward him.”
“One hundred meters later, the defendant stopped outside of a drink store and waited until the claimant passed him. The claimant continued cycling with the goal of quickly passing the defendant. When the claimant came close to passing the defendant, the defendant cycled fast toward my client and extended his arm as he grasped a pepper spray canister. He pressed it against the claimant’s face and sprayed directly into his eyes.”