Police probing attack on Israeli youth in Binyamin outpost
An Arab suspect was arrested and then released in the incident earlier this week.
By TAMARA ZIEVEUpdated: JULY 2, 2018 02:33THE US is cracking down on terror finance. (Reuters)(photo credit: REUTERS)
Police are investigating an alleged attack on a Jewish youth that occurred last week in the West Bank outpost of Givat Assaf in Binyamin, a police spokeswoman told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.The right-wing legal aid organization Honenu said on Thursday that it had filed a complaint to police over the incident, which occurred on Tuesday.According to Honenu, who sent an investigator to the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem where the victim was hospitalized last week, a Jewish youth was assaulted by several Arabs, who threw stones at him and beat him with clubs.The young man was severely wounded, with broken ribs, a punctured lung and wounds to his head, which required stitches. He was discharged from the hospital on Thursday afternoon.Honenu attorney Haim Bleicher sent a letter to the commander of the Judea and Samaria police district, detailing the incident on behalf of the victim. According to his testimony, a shepherd approached the young Jewish man, accompanied by a boy, and began throwing stones at him while using his mobile phone to call others to the scene.“Shortly afterwards, a vehicle arrived with two young men from minority groups who began throwing stones at the victim and advancing on him with clubs. My client tried to retreat back toward the assailants so as not to be hurt by the stones, all this while he heard the adult rioter yell at the boys to ‘slay’ him,” Bleicher wrote.The victim eventually managed to escape by rolling to the road where he found help. His assailants allegedly stole his cellphone that he left behind.Bleicher demanded that the police immediately arrest the attackers, who he described as “terrorists.”“This is a serious incident with serious consequences because of the fact that my client is an Israeli Jew. I request an immediate arrest of the attackers and a thorough investigation of the incident,” Bleicher said, lamenting that the police had not yet taken testimony from the victim.Following Bleicher’s letter, the police have taken testimony from the victim and say the investigation is ongoing. Police arrested a suspect and released him under restrictive conditions.
“This is a serious attack, which could easily have ended in murder,” Bleicher added. “The attackers are dangerous terrorists and the legal and security authorities must immediately arrest the suspects. Unfortunately, the suspects were released at the time of the incident, but now that the details of the incident are being clarified, they must be arrested without delay.”
