Arab whips Jew in Jerusalem, punishment slammed as absurd

The defendant then pulled his belt out of his trousers and whipped the complainant several times with it.

By World Israel News Staff

An Arab resident of eastern Jerusalem received only three months of community service, minus time served in detention, after admitting to beating a Jew and whipping him with his belt, Israel’s Channel 20 reported.

The assailant will also pay a fine of 2,000 NIS (New Israeli Shekels) to the complainant, part of a plea deal approved by the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court.

According to the indictment amended as part of the plea deal, the incident took place when the complainant was running on Via Dolorosa Street with a skullcap on his head and wrapped in a tallit.

The brother of the accused, a minor, started cursing the complainant. An argument ensued and more people gathered around, which turned into brawl when the minor began beating the complainant.

“Subsequently, the defendant emerged and beat the complainant with his hands, while the complainant tried to defend himself,” the indictment says. “The defendant’s brother joined the defendant and continued to beat the complainant.”

The indictment says the victim tried to flee but the attackers held him so he couldn’t escape.

The defendant then pulled his belt out of his trousers and whipped the complainant several times with it. “Many other people whose identities are unknown arrived at the scene, physically defended the complainant and removed the defendant and his brother while holding them and dragging them to another place.”

Though the defendant was convicted of causing bodily harm, Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court Judge Eitan Cohen ruled that the defendant would perform community service at a psychiatric hospital for three months plus pay compensation.

Attorney Haim Bleicher from Honenu, a group that defends Jews who become entangled in the law for defending themselves against Arab aggression, said in response to the sentence:

“Unfortunately, the sentence does not sufficiently reflect the seriousness of the incident, as it is a real lynching against the victim of the crime who suffered a lot of pain and carries a scar on his soul, as he testified in court.

“The attacker was not initially accused of racist background and we wonder about that, but in any case it is clear to any reasonable person that the lynching was done against the complainant by a number of minorities due to the complainant being Jewish.

“We would expect an actual prison sentence of at least one year as requested by the prosecution. We hoped for punishment with deterrence in order to eradicate the phenomenon of violence against Jews in Jerusalem,” Bleicher said.

There has been a spate of attacks on Jews in Jerusalem in the last month.