10 Israeli Jews indicted for brutal racial assault on two Arabs
Accused call 'Arabs, Arabs' at victims during attack, continued beating them with clubs and brass knuckles until victims lost consciousness.
Ten Israeli Jewish youths, three of them minors, were indicted at the Jerusalem District Court on Monday for attacking two Arab youths from Beit Hanina on July 25, the midst of Operation Protective Edge, in a racially motivated assault.
According to the indictment, one of the accused asked the two victims for a cigarette and a lighter in order to hear their accents and make sure they were Arabs. The two refused to oblige them.
Later, the accused approached the two Arabs and assaulted them, while shouting "Arabs! Arabs!" One of them turned to the two victims and asked them what they were doing in the neighborhood, Neve Yaakov in East Jerusalem, and the two sides started hurling abuse at one another.
At a certain point, the accused started hitting their victims with clubs and wooden planks.
One of the accused hit one of the victims hard in the head, and another hit him with brass knuckles. The victim fell to the ground and lost consciousness.
At the same time, several of the other accused were hitting the other victim with clubs, punched him and kicked him. He too fell to the ground and blacked out for several minutes.
The indictment further states the accused continued hitting the two victims even when they were on the ground.
Shortly afterwards, the accused fled the scene, leaving their victims bleeding on the ground.
One of the Arab youths suffered fractions to his skull and bruising to his chest, back and knees. The second one needed surgery to his head and was hospitalized for four days.
The Jerusalem District Prosecutor's Office asked the court to put the accused under custody until the end of proceedings against them. Some of them have also been accused of obstruction of justice.
Honenu Attorney Yehuda Shoshan, who represents three of the accused, said in response: "The three of them have given alibis that have been disproved by police. There is evidence to contradict the police's claims, and past experience teaches us that even when an indictment is filed, much of the evidence is hidden from the one handling the case, and only after the trial does the truth we claim comes out."
Attorney Siniya Harizi Moses, who represents one of the accused, said: "My client has no criminal record, he's normative, was supposed to enlist to a combat unit in the army this summer, and denies all claims against him."
