Teens suspected of attacking Arabs
Jerusalem Police arrest seven youths on suspicion of assaulting young Arab men in capital after having teenage girl seduce them, lead them to meeting point. Police say suspects confessed their acts were nationalistically-motivated
The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court on Tuesday released three of the teens on bail under limiting conditions.
According to the suspicions, the attacks took place in Jerusalem's Independence Park and several other locations in the capital. The teens were aided by a girl their age, who seduced the Arab men by asking them for alcoholic beverages and implying that she was interested in having sex with them.
The girl would then lead the young men to a meeting point in the park, where they were allegedly brutally attacked by the teens with stones, glass bottles and tear gas. Police suspect the girl took part in three of the assaults.
'Show us your ID card'
During one of the incidents, the victim cried out that he was not an Arab and begged the youths to stop beating him. They demanded that he show them his identity card, and continued hitting him after verifying that he was in fact an Arab. They then burned his identity card and escaped.
In another incident, they beat up an Arab youth until he lost consciousness, and escaped after presuming that he was dead.
The investigation revealed that the assaults were mostly carried out on Thursday and Saturday evenings. Some of the victims were hospitalized. Significant progress was made in the investigation after the police received intelligence information which led them to one of the suspects.
The suspect admitted to the allegations and led his investigators to the other gang members. According to the police, all the suspects confessed that their acts were nationalistically-motivated. Further arrests are expected.
The police stressed that the arrests were not linked to the attack of a Chilean tourist who was attacked in the same park last month.
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