The attack
Photo: Dorit Yarden Dotan
J'lem: Arab woman attacked by Jewish women
Group of young Jewish girls attack Arab woman in J'lem; 'Religious woman punched her face,' says passer-by; police investigate possible nationalistic motives
The police have launched an investigation into an alleged assault of an Arab woman in Jerusalem on Monday.
A witness claims a group of Jewish women attacked an Arab woman near the Light Rail station in the Kiryat Moshe neighborhood, hitting and yelling at her.
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Dorit Yorden-Dotan took photographs of the incident and claims the attack she witnessed was racist in nature.
"A young religious Jewish woman who passed by the station suddenly punched the Arab woman in the face, while she was standing there," she said.
The attack, Monday (Photo: Dorit Yordan-Dotan)
"When the woman tried to defend herself, the attacker's friends came to her assistance, started hitting her and pushed her toward the station's wall.
"They yelled at her 'Don't you dare touch a Jew,' and 'you have no business being here.' The Light Rail security guard was there but he did nothing, he didn't get involved."
"Many people just stood by and didn't help her" (Photo: Dorit Yordan-Dotan)
Yordan-Dotan explained that she noticed the incident while standing at the station on the opposite side of the road.
She said the Arab woman was with a man, "he was helpless, and didn't know how to stop the attack.
"Many people just stood by and didn't help her."
Yordan-Dotan has no doubts about the attackers' motives: "The attack was nationalistically motivated; you don't need to be a genius to see that."
Following the photographs and Yordan-Dotan's testimony, police have launched an investigation, but since the Arab woman did not file a complaint, they have encountered difficulties locating her.
A Jerusalem police official said on Monday: "It seems to have been a dispute which developed inside the Light Rail and turned violent outside of it.
"So far it seems it was just a quarrel between the women, but we are checking whether there was a nationalist background."
Noam (Dabul) Dvir contributed to this report
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