Arab assaults 16-year-old Jewish girl on Jerusalem train

Attorney says letting the assailant go free could establish a precedent that endangers national security.

By World Israel News Staff

An Arab man physically assaulted a 16-year-old Jewish girl in an unprovoked attack on the Jerusalem light rail on Sunday, and the assailant is still at large, Israel National News reported.

The young woman, a Jerusalem local, recently reached out to the Honenu Jewish legal aid NGO for assistance.

Haim Bleicher, an attorney from the organization, wrote a strongly worded letter to the Jerusalem police, urging them to take the attack seriously, apprehend the assailant, and charge him with a nationalistically motivated crime.

Bleicher wrote that his teenage client had been speaking with her sister while riding the train and that there were Arab youth present in the light rail car.

“Suddenly, and for no reason at all, one of the minority individuals [Arabs] came and delivered a strong blow to my client’s arm. He then continued on his way, while he and his friends giggled,” the letter read, according to Israel National News.

“My client, who was in serious pain, turned to the attacker to protest what he had done, but he treated her with contempt. My client and her sister got off at the Iriya [City Hall] station and told police officers about the incident. Later, my client filed a complaint at the Sha’ar Binyamin police station.”

But despite filing a formal complaint with police, no progress has been made in tracking down the attacker, Bleicher said.

“This is an antisemitic degrading, and outrageous attack – and it is seven times uglier since we are speaking about an Arab man who hit a woman, and in front of a crowd. It must be dealt with firmly, and not taken lightly.”

He added that holding the assailant responsible was critical for national security.

“A terrorist who began with such an attack, and is not punished appropriately, is likely to ‘develop an appetite’ and continue to escalate to more serious and severe acts, G-d forbid,” Bleicher wrote.

He then referenced Arab rioting throughout Israel immediately preceding and during the May 2021 Israel-Gaza clash, which saw Arab youth attacking Jewish victims and uploading videos of the assaults to social media.

“We note that a very similar incident – in which an [Arab] slapped a Jewish young man on the light rail train – was [widely] publicized and shortly afterwards the 2021 riots began last year.”

Bleicher demanded that “security footage from the train be immediately and urgently backed up, before it is deleted. Both from inside the train car, for the purpose of videos of the attack, and from the stations outside, for the purpose of locating the station where the terrorist got off and finding his place of residence.

“I request that intelligence sources be activated, to locate the attacker, arrest him, and bring him to justice.”