Please click here for a list of posts relating to cases in which Honenu provided legal counsel to victims of antisemitic attacks in Jerusalem.
Arson damage; Photo courtesy of the family
Wednesday, April 9, 2025, 13:35 The Jerusalem District Court has awarded the Yoshvaev family NIS 47,000 in compensation for a terrorist attack on their home. The award was a compromise agreement resulting from civil proceedings. The family, who live in the Shimon HaTzadik neighborhood of Jerusalem, filed the civil suit following the terrorist’s conviction in criminal proceedings.
In February 2022, several terrorists hurled Molotov cocktails at the home of the Yoshvaev family. The flames set fire to the home, the fire being particularly fierce in the children’s bedroom. Fortunately, the family was not at home at the time. The family was forced to live elsewhere for a long time while the damages were being repaired.
The police arrested several suspects on suspicion of arson. Two suspects were indicted for that incident and for other attacks on the family’s house. The charges included arson, weapon production, carrying a weapon, racially and maliciously motivated damage, attempted arson as an act of terror, aggravated assault as an act of terror, and operating a weapon as an act of terror. They were convicted in criminal proceedings and sentenced to two and a half years’ and six months’ imprisonment, respectively.
They were also handed down suspended sentences, and the Yoshvaev family was awarded compensation. A suit against three additional suspects who were arrested in the case is still pending.
Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher, who filed the civil suit on behalf of the family, detailed the damage caused to them by the arson, and the emotional pain and suffering that they experienced and continue to experience. Within the framework of the suit, the victims are asking the court to impose punitive damages because the terrorist assault was racially and nationalistically motivated.
Attorney Bleicher issued a statement: “We will make every effort to ensure that all terrorists who injure Jews or damage their property will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, as will their abettors. After terrorists are sentenced to prison terms in criminal proceedings, we sue them in civil proceedings so that they will pay out of their own pockets for their despicable acts. We hope that the knowledge that their victims will be awarded large sums of compensation will cause them to cease their acts of terror. This time there was ‘only’ property damage. However, if the family had been at home, the arson attack would have likely ended in tragedy.”
Since Operation Guardian of the Walls, the Yoshvaev family has suffered close to 20 acts of terror including fireworks shot from point-blank range at their sukka while Tal was sleeping in it, nine vehicular arson attacks, two Molotov cocktails thrown at their house, an array of fireworks launched at their yard, and many bottles of paint thrown at their car. For more details, see here and here. In February 2022, the police closed off the home of the Yoshvaev family to guests and visitors, including workers who were needed to repair arson damage. The barriers were removed one month later in light of a petition to the High Court of Justice.