Sunday, July 8, 2018, 17:13 On Tuesday, June 26, a Jewish youth was assaulted and seriously injured by several Arabs at the Oz Tzion outpost near the Givat Assaf Junction in the Binyamin region. He suffered cuts to his head, which required stitches, fractured ribs and
Assaulted youth; Photo courtesy of the photographer
pneumothorax (abnormal collection of air in the chest cavity) resulting from a punctured lung. The police summoned for interrogation only one suspect from among the numerous assailants and none of the assailants were detained at the scene of assault, despite their positive identification by the injured youth. As of this time the main suspects in the incident have not been interrogated, according to the reply letter received by Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher from the Yehuda and Shomron Police Headquarters in response to his first inquiry.
Bleicher, who is representing the youth as a terror victim, sent a letter to the Yehuda and Shomron Police demanding that the main suspects in the assault be detained and demanded that one of the security forces who witnessed the identification of the assailants by the complainant be summoned to give testimony. In his letter Bleicher mentioned that the youth positively identified his assailants despite the fact that they had taken showers and changed clothes after the incident. Also the soldiers who arrived at the scene had seen and could identify the suspects and the clothes that they had worn during the incident. Despite the evidence, the police did not detain the suspects, but rather summoned their father for interrogation only on the following day.
Bleicher noted that on the day before the assault, a vineyard belonging to the suspects was damaged, possibly in a price-tag incident and mentioned that, “It could be that the assailants looked for someone on whom to take out their rage and my client, who has no connection to the damage, fell victim at their hands.”
Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher continued in his letter: “An assault on an Israeli and an attempt to kill him must be taken completely seriously. The police should have immediately detained the suspects in the serious assault and not released them prior to clarifying the circumstances. This was a matter of rioters looking to take out their rage on an Israeli who came across their path. These terrorists are dangerous, and unfortunately are going around freely, and could be looking for more Israeli victims.”