‘Serious attack’: Arab prisoner takes a bite out of Jewish inmate who likes Ben-Gvir

“Even though it was carried out within the walls of the prison, this constitutes a terror attack for all intents and purposes,” argues the victim’s attorney.

By World Israel News Staff

An Arab prisoner sunk his teeth into the chest of a Jewish inmate earlier this month, causing severe infection, The Jerusalem Post reported.

The assailant was reportedly enraged when his cellmate at Damon Prison in northern Israel appeared to like right-wing Internal Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir while watching the news.

“My client has been serving a sentence for traffic offenses for several months. In his cell, Jewish and Arab prisoners live together in peace,” said the victim’s attorney Haim Bleicher of the Honenu legal organization.

“A few days ago, the suspect from the village of Hura in the south was put in the cell of my client. On January 11, my client was watching the news on television. The news broadcast pictures of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and my client expressed joy while watching the news,” Bleicher said.

“At this point, my client noticed the suspect praying and immediately entered the bathroom. Suddenly… the suspect ran towards my client chanting ‘Allah Akbar’ and sank his teeth into his chest with great force. My client was shocked and at first, did not understand what was happening to him.

“It took my client a while to realize that the suspect was biting his chest and trying to dislodge the flesh. My client struggled for over a minute to free himself from the suspect’s jaws all the while groaning in pain, while the other inmates in the cell also tried to separate the suspect from my client,” the attorney explained.

Furthermore, “following the attack, my client was taken to the Carmel [Government] Hospital where he was diagnosed with bleeding and a severe infection in the chest and hematomas that cover a large area of his chest and even spread to his stomach.”

“Due to a lack of manpower at the Prison Service, my client was returned to his cell and taken to the hospital from time to time. My client is being treated with massive antibiotics and is being monitored for the need to insert a drain to pump the internal bleeding.”

Bleicher argues that the incident was a nationalistic attack.

“My client was told that the suspect committed a similar attack, by biting, against another Jew in Tzalmon prison and was then transferred to them.

“Also, my client was explained by his cellmates that the suspect’s behavior is also related to the death of his relative Yaqub Abu Al-Kiyan during the security forces’ activity near Hura,” a Bedouin town in southern Israel.

Yet “much to the surprise and in spite of the risk involved, the suspect was transferred to another cell that also contained Jewish prisoners.

“This is a serious attack on a nationalistic basis. Even though it was carried out within the walls of the prison, this constitutes a terror attack for all intents and purposes. The suspect poses an immediate danger to every Israeli citizen even while in prison.

‘First, I would like to warn about the suspect being in a cell together with Jews. It seems that this suspect should be isolated immediately or, unfortunately, he should not be put in a cell together with Jewish or Druze citizens and the like,” Bleicher concluded.