Ze'ev Brauda
Photo: Gil Yohanan
Settler involved in Hebron shooting charged with assault
State Prosecutor's Office decides to file assault with malicious intent charges against Ze'ev Brauda, for injuring two Palestinians in Hebron. Attorney claims he feared for his life
The State Prosecutor's Office has filed an indictment against Ze'ev Brauda, a settler from Kiryat Arba suspected of firing at Palestinians after the eviction of the disputed house in the West Bank city of Hebron last week.
The State decided to charge Brauda with assault with malicious intent.
Earlier Wednesday, the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court remanded Brauda to house arrest, but the prosecution appealed the decision, demanding he be remanded to police custody pending the conclusion of the legal proceedings against him.
Reprimand
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According to the indictment, during the tumultuous events surrounding the eviction of the Hebron house, Brauda pulled out his gun and demanded several Palestinians living adjacently to the disputed house go back inside their house.
Brauda, who was reportedly accompanied by an unidentified young man, went into the house as well. When the family patriarch demanded he leave, Brauda proceeded to hit him and then aimed his gun at him.
Other family members tried to remove Brauda from their home, at which point he fired at them. One of the shots hit the family patriarch in the chest. Another family member was able to knock Brauda to the ground, at which point he fired two more shots – one hitting a third family member in the arm.
Other members of the Palestinian family lunged at Brauda, who was eventually extracted from the premises by other Kiryat Arba settlers.
Justice Malka Aviv, who presided over the bail hearing, criticized the police actions in the case: "The police are radically making light of the behavior demonstrated by the Palestinians involved in the incident, she said, noting that no Palestinians were arrested in the case, despite the severity of the events and the obvious near-lynching of Brauda.
Attorney Ariel Atari, for Brauda, claimed that his client fired only to keep his son away from the disputed house in Hebron, and then found himself surrounded by Palestinians carrying rocks, leading him to fear for his life.
Once the court decided to remand Brauda to house arrest, the State told the court it would be appealing the decision, as asked his release to be postponed, pending a hearing in a higher instance.
