Indictment against youth for attacking Palestinian dropped
Due to lack of substantial evidence, prosecution decides to rescind the allegations against Itamar Ben-Aharon, who was accused of membership in a Jewish terror cell and of attacking a Palestinian civilian in June 2015.
An indictment against Itamar Ben-Aharon, 20, who was accused of being member of the Nahliel group and in taking part in a serious racially motivated assault on a Palestinian, was dropped by the Central District Attorney's Office on Tuesday.
On February 2016, the Shin Bet uncovered a Jewish terror cell that is suspected of perpetrating "price tag" attacks.
The group is believed have been responsible for multiple incidents of arson of Palestinian property, throwing Molotov cocktails at a Palestinian residence and even assaulting a Palestinian civilian.
All members of the group were charged with hate crimes.
Ben-Aharon was arrested as one of them and charged with the 2015 assault of the Palestinian civilian.
According to the indictment, Ben-Aharon joined the other members of the Nahliel group in a search for a Palestinian they planned on hurting.
After a short drive, the group, armed with wooden clubs, found a Palestinian resident of Ras Karkar village, beat him and sprayed him with tear gas.
Ben-Aharon claimed throughout the investigation that he was not involved in the assault, yet his name came up during the interrogation of the other members.
When trying to build a case against him, the prosecution had difficulties finding evidence to support the allegations and therefore decided to drop the indictment.
This is considered pretty unusual, especially since the case was considered high-priority by the police and the Shin Bet.
Ben-Aharon's attorney, Sinaiya Harizi, said: "It was obvious from the start that there were large gaps in the evidence against my client. During the months that have passed since the indictment was filed against my client, we have stated the problems in the evidence to the prosecution and I'm glad that they finally rescinded the allegations."
