A Jewish minor and resident of Samaria was indicted in the Central District Juvenile Court on Tuesday for anti-Palestinian violence and a range of other charges.
According to the indictment, on January 4, the defendant and seven other unidentified persons came to the Palestinian village of Surta armed with IDF-issued stun grenades, large rocks and sharp objects for use as weapons and with face masks to obscure their identities.
They used rocks and stun grenades to attack four Palestinian residences, including the inhabitants, as well as nearby cars.
A 61-year-old Palestinian man was injured when he was hit in the head with broken glass. A 17-year-old Palestinian woman and a pregnant Palestinian woman were injured.
The Palestinian women and other members of the four families suffered emotional shock from the attack.
The defendant was charged with causing physical harm in racist circumstances, with conspiracy to commit racist felonies, an attempt to destroy a residence using explosives, illegal weapons possession and intentional destruction of property.
He perpetrated these acts in violation of house arrest, which he had been sent to, the indictment said.
The Central District Attorney’s Office sought to keep him in detention until the end of the trial.
Honenu lawyers Adi Keidar and Moshe Pulaski criticized the indictment, saying they could see that “there is only one piece of forensic evidence against the minor, with no supporting evidence of any kind.”
The evidence relates to DNA that allowed identification of the defendant, which was not the case with the other seven unidentified perpetrators, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
Two other suspects were extensively questioned, with an original list of up to five suspects.
It is unclear whether there will be further indictments, as initial indications were that one of the suspects had also attacked members of Israel’s security forces.
Recent attempts to prosecute cases against Jews for violence against Palestinians have had mixed results. One case led to a conviction for arson and murder, and another trial for negligent homicide is ongoing.
There also have been some lesser indictments in which the original, yet more severe, charges were dropped, and a sizable number of suspects were questioned by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) but were released unconditionally.