3 minors sentenced to imprisonment in J'lem mob attack on Arab youth

Judge says of attack that left 17-year-old Jamal Julani seriously wounded: Youths were motivated by hatred and carried out a lynch.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Zion Square beating suspect in J'lem District Court 370 (photo credit: Melanie Lidman)
Zion Square beating suspect in J'lem District Court 370
(photo credit: Melanie Lidman)
Three minors were sentenced to imprisonment Monday for their involvement in a mob attack against an Arab teenager in Jerusalem last August.
Some eight minors and a 19-year-old attempted to attack a number of Arabs in Hatulot Square in the capital, causing serious injuries to 17- year-old Jamal Julani.
One of the youths was sentenced to eight months in jail, a second youth was sentenced to three months and a third to one month, while the remaining attackers signed plea deals with the State Attorney's Office.
Judge Ya'akov Tzaban, who handed out the sentences, was quoted by Channel 10 as saying the defendants were part of "a group of youths that were motivated by hatred and carried out a lynch."
In the indictment issued against the one adult involved in the attack in August, around 60 youth sat in central Jerusalem’s Hatulot Square on August 16, and started harassing Arab youths in the area, telling them they could not sit there. The Jewish youths also chanted “Muhammed is dead!” and “Death to Arabs.”
At around 11:30 p.m., some 30 people in the group moved toward Zion Square with the goal of “beating up Arabs,” according to the indictment. The group saw one Arab they did not know and attempted to catch him, but he was able to flee. A few minutes later, four Arabs passed by and the group started attacking them. The Arabs began to flee, but 17- year-old Jamal Julani fell as he was running and was immediately surrounded by the Jewish teens.
The attackers beat Julani unconscious to the point where he had no pulse. Paramedics who arrived on the scene used CPR and defibrillators for more than 10 minutes before his pulse returned, and evacuated him in critical but stable condition to Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem.