Two youths injured in violent incidents
Soldier critically injured by rock, another seriously injured by knife attack in two incidents in north of the country
In Kiryat Yam, a 20 year-old Bedouin soldier, Jalal Tawili, was injured in the head by a large rock and critically injured. In another incident, a 20 year-old youth was stabbed at a shopping mall at the southern entrance to Haifa and was moderately wounded.
Zevulon Police arrested three youths suspected of being involved in the attack. The youths are aged 17.5, 26, and 18.
Jalal Tawili lies critically injured in hospital (Photo: Gil Nahushtan)
During the attack, a gang of local youths shouted racist abuse due to fact that one of the Arab youths went out with a Jewish girl.
The incident took place at around 3:30 on Saturday morning, when youths from the Arab village of Tamra, in the western Negev, took their friend to her home. When they returned to their vehicle, a number of local residents surrounded them, and in the ensuing confrontation, the Arab youths were attacked with sticks and rocks. One of them was injured in his head by a large rock thrown at him from close range, and lost consciousness.
An ambulance evacuated him to the Rambam hospital with the youth needing a ventilator. He has been placed in the intensive neurological department, and has undergone a number of operations to repair breaks in the youth's face.
The attackers fled the scene, and police believe that the group has fought with Arab youths in the past.
Mass fights between Jewish and Arab youths on the beaches of the area and in shopping malls have taken place over the last summer. The investigation continues.
Jalal Tawili’s father, Abdullah, said: “No one should be treated like this. Of one youth fights with another, let them hit each other and that’s it. But like this – to attack someone with a gang, until he’s almost dead, and then to throw him to the side? Where do we live? In the jungle?”
The family has another son, 21, who was also attacked in the incident, suffering a broken hand. “My son told me that they were with two friends, taking one home. When they got out of the car a kid was waiting with bicycle outside, he told them that they hit him with their car. Apparently this was just an excuse to delay them, because minutes later a whole group of guys starting hitting them with sticks. They were only two – what could they do. In the end they (the attackers) took a big block, and brought it down on my son’s head. My second son pretended to be dead, so they would leave him alone. They threw them between two cars and escaped. That’s why it took the ambulance so long to find them,” Abdullah said.
Stabbing after drink spilled
A short time after the incident in Kiryat Adam, Haifa paramedics learned of a stabbing in the southern entrance to the city. A 20 year-old youth was found, a resident of the Israeli-Arab community of Ilut, near Nazareth, with a stab wound to his limbs, and in serious condition. He was taken to the Rambam hospital in Haifa.
A police investigation found that half an hour earlier, the two youths sat in the Sky Bar club, when suddenly a drink was spilled on them from a table higher up in the club.
The youths at the table from which the drink was spilled were also apparently Arab.
"There were comments exchanged but things did not develop into a fight," said Tirat Carmel Police Commander Eli Mamen. "When the youth sought to leave the area half an hour later, he was concerned, and asked the club's owner to accompany him and his friend to their vehicle. Immediately after the three left the club, a car stopped near them with a screech of the brakes, with two youths, who were not apparently in the club. The club owner and the youth on whom the drink was spilled managed to escape, but the friend was stabbed," said Mamen.
The attackers were apparently called to the area by the youths who spilled the drink. They fled the scene, but not before destroying the entrance door with a hammer. Both the stabbing knife and the hammer were recovered by police, who said the investigation would continue.
