The Northern District Prosecutor’s Office filed an indictment against three residents of Nazareth on charges of robbery, attempted kidnapping, extortion by threats, assault causing actual bodily harm and obstructing a police officer in the line of duty.
According to the indictment, the three allegedly attacked and tried to kidnap a local businessman over a debt of several tens of thousands of shekels, even as a civil lawsuit between them was still being heard in court.
Police Cmdr. Or Yizraeli, head of the investigations unit in Nazareth, said the incident occurred on Oct. 20, when a call was received at the northern district’s 100 emergency hotline. “We later learned that the victim had used a passerby’s cellphone to report that he’d been attacked, that there was an attempt to kidnap him, and that the attackers had threatened him with pepper spray,” Yizraeli said. “We immediately realized this was a kidnapping and robbery case. The dispatcher gathered all the necessary details, and at the same time I dispatched patrol units to look for the suspects.”
Within minutes, a motorcycle unit from the Nazareth police located a vehicle matching the description given by the businessman. The three suspects inside were detained. During their initial questioning, they denied the allegations and tried to distance themselves from the scene, police said.
Yizraeli said the victim later gave a full statement, describing a civil dispute between him and one of the suspects over a debt of several tens of thousands of shekels related to the sale of a house in the city. “From his testimony, we understood that a civil lawsuit was in progress, but the suspect was dissatisfied with how slowly the case was moving and decided to ‘speed up the process,’” Yizraeli said.
According to the police account, the confrontation happened by chance. “The suspect was in a car with friends when he suddenly spotted the victim,” Yizraeli said. “He followed him, stopped his car, and one of the suspects — who wasn’t involved in the civil dispute — got out carrying pepper spray, entered the victim’s car, attacked him with the spray, and ordered him to drive to the nearby community of Tzipori.”
When the businessman refused and stopped his vehicle, the other two suspects joined in. “The main suspect choked and beat him all over his body while demanding 106,000 shekels and threatening to kill him if he didn’t pay,” Yizraeli said. “When the victim refused, they panicked, robbed him of about 4,300 shekels, his cellphone and his car keys, and left him on the roadside with the car. He suffered neck abrasions and required medical treatment.”
The businessman, identified only as M., told reporters: “I thought they were going to kill me, but God helped me and kept me alive. I’m terrified; sometimes I don’t even leave the house. I keep getting threatening calls demanding I withdraw the complaint. They threatened to burn my house and car. I’m living in fear and only go out when absolutely necessary.”
Attorney Muhammad Abu-Ahmad, who represents the defendants, said in response that “these are three completely normative men, not involved in or connected to any criminal world. They categorically deny the entire indictment and its charges.”
“It’s impossible that these clients would kidnap and rob someone in broad daylight near a police station,” Abu-Ahmad said. “The indictment is inflated, and we will demand their release to house arrest. We are convinced the police theory is wrong and that other lines of investigation were not explored.”