Tel Aviv: Four men arrested for beating, robbing African migrants

Police: Suspects fueled by hatred, robberies an afterthought.

By BEN HARTMAN
Aftrican migrants pack after night in TA park_370 (photo credit: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters)
Aftrican migrants pack after night in TA park_370
(photo credit: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters)
Four men driven by a hatred of foreigners beat and robbed African migrants in south Tel Aviv in recent months, before they were arrested Monday by Tel Aviv police.
Tel Aviv police said Tuesday that the four men operated in the neighborhoods of Hatikva, Shapira, and the area around the Central Bus Station. They would single out foreigners walking around these neighborhoods and then would attack them “using great cruelty” - police said – using bottles and sticks to beat them into submission.
Police said the robberies were of secondary interest to the men, who were driven by a hatred of foreigners and were looking to beat and terrorize them, robbing them as a sort of afterthought.
The men, all aged 22 and 21, are themselves residents of south Tel Aviv, and will be brought for a remand extension at the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court on Tuesday.
In April, Tel Aviv police arrested five Israeli males, including two minors, for carrying out a series of attacks on Africans in south Tel Aviv.
In two cases, the men beat Ethiopian Jews, including one who was robbed and hospitalized with a head wound.
Also, in January, Eilat police arrested a group of four local males, including a soldier and a minor, who they said carried out a series of beatings and robberies of African migrants in the city. In all of the cases, the men were beaten and required medical treatment