Migrants allegedly pull Israeli man out of car, beat him
Bat Yam resident sustains injuries in south Tel Aviv; police suspect Eritrean migrants responsible. Mother says five-year-old son witnessed attack
Tel-Aviv district police launched an investigation following a complaint filed by a resident of the city of Bat Yam, claiming he was attacked, unprovoked, by Eritrean migrants in south Tel Aviv.
The complainant alleged that a group of migrants threw stones at the man's car, which he was driving accompanied by his wife and three children, then pulled him out of the vehicle and severely beat him. Police have arrested two suspects in the assault, released one suspect, and are in search of others.
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The family was driving Friday from the city of Bat-Yam due north to Tel-Aviv, where they picked up drinks from a shop in the southern area of the city. The father claimed that a group of Eritrean migrants threw stones at the family's car, then pulled him out of the vehicle when he stopped at a red light and brutally beat him.
The father, Eyal, said he had stopped at a red light when he was forcefully removed from his car and mercilessly beaten. He attempted to ward off the assailants, but was unable to escape, and sustained a nose fracture, contusions, and injuries that required stitches.
Father, Eyal, with broken nose, contusions (Photo: Nitzan Gavriel)
"It's a horrible trauma," Eyal said, "I won't be back in south Tel-Aviv again. Why can't I drive ten minutes from my home? This is my country. What have we come to?"
'Our son has a hard time sleeping'
Nitzan, the victim's wife, said that the family was in the car, including the children, aged five, two and nine months, when assailants dragged her husband out and began attacking him.
"They held my husband down and beat him, all while my children stood watching. My five year old cried out: 'Mom, they're killing daddy!'
The mother also said that she was horrified when she couldn't run to her husband's aid, for fear of leaving the children alone.
"I kept thinking that once they'll be done with my husband they'll come for us next," Nitzan, who called the police, said, "ever since the incident our five year old son has a hard time sleeping at night, and I keep thinking about how it could have ended with us all being murdered."
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