An indictment handed to the Haifa District Court Wednesday claims a yeshiva student was pelted with stones by immigrants just because he was religious.
The indictment says the assailants yelled racist slurs and cried out, "It's too bad Hitler didn't kill you all".
The incident occurred at Haifa's Nachalat Halevi'im yeshiva on a Saturday evening at the start of the month. The students who claimed to have been present say a number of young men entered, including 21-year old Gregory Kornitzki, whom they recognized.
"The defendant and the others began to throw stones at the yeshiva students and threatened that they would beat and kill them, all while crying hurtful, anti-religious slogans to intimidate them," the indictment says.
A 16-year old student from Jerusalem was injured in the face by the stones, and his lower jaw sustained multiple fractures.
The indictment adds that a week before the incident the defendant attacked another student while he was walking on a Haifa street. "He grabbed his neck, strangled him, and continued walking," the prosecution claims.
Haifa Police Commander Ahuva Tomer said the dispute between the immigrants and the yeshiva students had probably begun much earlier, while the latter were collecting wood for Lag B'Omer.
The defendant has been positively identified by both students who claim he attacked them. Police say he is Jewish, despite the cross tattooed on his arm.
"The defendant was uncooperative with interrogators at first, but he finally confessed his connection to the events despite saying he was alone, and didn't attack anyone," Tomer told Ynet. She added that as far as she knew the incidents were not a product of neo-Nazism.