Israeli supreme court judge narrowly dodges carjacking

Israeli Supreme Court Judge David Mintz sped away from three Palestinians armed with hammers who tried stopping his car.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Supreme Court justice David Mintz narrowly avoided injury and a possible carjacking Monday when a car suddenly blocked the road as he traveled from his home in Samaria to the Jerusalem courthouse.

He reported to police that he was driving on Route 463 from Dolev, his hometown in the Benjamin region, when a Palestinian car swerved in front of him blocking his way. Three men jumped out and started running toward him with hammers. Mintz says he threw his car into gear and sped past their car to escape.

Motives unknown

The police are investigating the incident. It is unknown at this time whether the assailants targeted Mintz specifically out of political motives, or if they were criminals who had done so randomly. Whether they intended to target passengers or their vehicles is also unknown.

Israeli Supreme Court justices do not receive bodyguards unless they have been targeted by credible threats, news site Makor Rishon reports.

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked treated the attempted attack as if it were certain that it was a terror incident.

“Judge Mintz’s case could have ended otherwise,” she said, “This demonstrates the type of terror attacks that take place in Judea and Samaria, and we have to deal with them with severity.”

The 59-year-old religiously observant Mintz emigrated from England with his family as a child and served in the army as an Armored Corps officer before going to law school. He became a judge in the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court in 2011 and was selected as a Supreme Court justice last year.

There have been several carjackings in recent months in Samaria, including one in late July when a person stopped to let passengers out at the entrance to a community in the northern part of the region. He was attacked by several people who then stole his vehicle.

In another incident barely a week later, an Israeli man was forced to drive into Qalkilya after Arabs forcibly entered his car. They let him out at the city’s entrance and Israeli forces rescued him. In that case, police found his car quickly due to the detection system installed in the vehicle.