Six Jewish suspects charged with acts of terror for attacking Arabs
Shin Bet maintains that the violent attacks against minorities in Be'er Sheva were carried out with nationalistic motives; among the suspects are 2 IDF soldiers and a minor.
Six Jewish residents of Be'er Sheva were charged on Sunday with attacking Arabs out of nationalistic motivations.
The Southern District of the State Attorney's Office filed indicted against the six, charging them with "acts of terrorism" as defined by the Anti-Terrorism Law.
According to the Shin Bet, several acts of violence against minorities were carried out throughout the city of Be'er Sheva beginning in December 2016, the most serious of which was a stabbing attack on the night of February 21, 2017. Dangerous weapons were used in these incidents, including knives, clubs, iron rods and other blunt objects.
Among the six suspects, all of whom are between the ages of 17-20, are two IDF soldiers and a minor.
The suspects were also allegedly involved in several other criminal acts. During questioning, suspects also admitted to "violently assaulting minorities on five other occasions and destroying a vehicle."
The indictments filed against the main suspects of the case—Raz Amizur (a Yeshiva student), Koren Elkayam and Tamir Bartal—charge the three with involvement in several attacks against minorities and involvement in terrorist activities.
According to the indictment, the attacks were carried out with a nationalist-racist motive "in order to prevent the assimilation of Jewish women and Arab men in Be'er Sheva."
The indictment filed against Amizur ties him to six different crimes, the most severe of which is an aggravated assault and possession of a knife.
According to the indictment, Amizur stabbed an Arab Citizen in February who he saw sitting in a car in the Turner Stadium parking lot with a Jewish woman beside him.
"I knew that they did that to me just because I'm Arab," the victim testified. "They asked me for a lighter. I gave them one and they noticed my accent and that my (female—ed) was sitting next to me. A little while later they returned (and it happened—ed).
"I didn't say anything that was out of place. When they started hitting me they said 'kill him. It's a stinking Arab.' They stabbed me. Hit me over the head. One of them told the other to kill me so I won't testify against them."
All six were also indicted for assaulting a civilian belonging to a civilian belonging to an ethnic minority in a park in Be'er Sheva in March.
The other indictments filed against Amizur, Elkayam and Bartal accuse them with assembling for the purpose of harming ethnic minorities on several different occasions, and charge them with several counts of aggravated assault and battery, which are considered to be terror attacks.
The other suspects are Sharon Dazanashvili, one adult and one minor, who are charged with one count of assault against a civilian belonging to an ethnic minority (alongside the three main suspects) in March.
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Attorneys representing the suspects criticized the investigation and the interrogation of the suspects, saying, "This is an investigation that has trampled human rights, including the illegal use of force, undemocratic directives and more. It seems that the basic rights of detainees are blocked by the iron doors of the Shin Bet's holding cells. My client's interrogation was done in violation of any basic right granted to him by the law, while I was prevented from meeting and talking to him."
