State files indictments against 19 Kfar Kana alleged rioters

A total of 54 rioters have been arrested in the clashes that have broken out in the North since the fatal shooting of Hir Hamdan by police.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB, BEN HARTMAN
Protest in Kafr Kana (photo credit: Courtesy)
Protest in Kafr Kana
(photo credit: Courtesy)
The Northern District Attorney’s Office on Wednesday filed indictments against 19 alleged rioters arrested in and around Kafr Kana in recent days.
The rioting and interplay with police near the Galilee village included the police’s killing of Kheir a-Din Hamdan, for which the officers involved are under investigation.
Of the 19, 10 are adults and nine are minors.
They are charged with a range of crimes including attempts to attack police under aggravated circumstances and public disorder related crimes.
One of those indicted, Ahmad Im’arah, 21, was involved in confrontations with police at the Beit Rimon junction between Routes 754 and 77 around 4 p.m. on Saturday, where the police had deployed forces to maintain order.
Rioters, including Im’arah, threw rocks and Molotov cocktails at police, burned tires and jeered, “Death to the Jews,” the indictment said.
Another man, Aziz Hamdan, 54, was accused of similar crimes, with many of the indictments appearing to describe similar details.
A total of 54 rioters have been arrested in the riots that have broken out in the North since the fatal shooting of Hamdan on Friday night.
Police believe that within the next week or two, there could well be an ebb in both the rioting in the North and the rioting connected to the Temple Mount.
Police have made the decision to move away from a more offensive approach to the rioting, particularly on the Temple Mount, and are putting more effort into dialogue with local leaders, businessmen and residents – most of it behind the scenes – to try to end the violence.
On Tuesday, police began a nationwide campaign to arrest Palestinians illegally in the country.
On the first day of the operation, they arrested around 200 Palestinians who were in Israel illegally, as well as 13 Israelis who were illegally employing them, police said.
The campaign came after a soldier was murdered on Monday near the Hagana train station in Tel Aviv, allegedly at the hands of an 18-year-old Palestinian who was in Israel without a permit.