A 21-year-old man threw Molotov cocktails into the homes of several African
migrants and into the courtyard of a kindergarten in south Tel Aviv, an
indictment filed on Thursday alleges.
Haim Mula was charged with arson,
which carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence where attacks are carried out to
endanger or injure people, and malicious damage, which incurs a maximum penalty
of three years in prison.
According to the indictment, which the Tel Aviv
District Attorney presented in the district court on Thursday morning, Mula made
the Molotov cocktails last month by stuffing cloth soaked in flammable materials
into glass bottles with the intention of setting fire to African migrants’
homes.
At 1 p.m. on April 27, Mula allegedly threw two lit Molotov
cocktails into the entryway of an apartment on Israel Misalant Street in south
Tel Aviv’s Shapira neighborhood where four Africans sat with a small
baby.
As a result, a fire broke out in the hallway, the indictment
said.
Mula allegedly threw a third lit Molotov cocktail into the
apartment block’s yard shortly afterwards. Two beds and several items of
clothing were burned in the resulting fire, according to the
indictment.
Later that same day, just before 2 p.m., Mula hurled another
firebomb into an apartment on Mesilat Yesharim Street, the indictment
charges.
That firebomb ignited a curtain that had fallen onto a bed where
the apartment’s resident, an African migrant, was lying, the indictment said. In
the fire that resulted, a curtain, a blanket and a TV antenna cable were
burned.
Immediately afterwards, Mula hurled another bomb into an
apartment on the same street, where another African migrant sat with her
brother.
Next, the indictment said, Mula threw two more Molotov cocktails
into the yard of an apartment on nearby Ralbag Street, which serves as a
kindergarten for the children of African migrants.
One of the homemade
incendiaries allegedly set fire to the kindergarten’s yard, burning a sofa and
other furniture as well as children’s toys and strollers. Mula “ignited fires
intentionally to harm people and property where they lived, and to cause damage
to property,” the indictment said.
Police arrested Mula on April 28, a
day after the alleged incidents, and he has been held on remand since that
time.
In addition to the indictment, the district attorney filed a
request to remand Mula in custody throughout the criminal proceedings against
him.
The day after the alleged attack on the kindergarten yard, the
Nigerian woman who runs the kindergarten said she and her husband were at home
during the attack, but were only awoken when firefighters knocked on the
door.
The kindergarten,crammed with baby cribs and mattresses, is part of
a small house where the family lives that directly faces the
street.
Though not originally reported by police, the alleged incident
drew widespread criticism not only from left-wing MKs and Tel Aviv Mayor Ron
Huldai, but also right-wing Israelis who take part in protests against the
African migrant community in Israel.
In photos, the bombs Mula allegedly
made appeared to be crudely fashioned from 330- millimeter beer
bottles.
Though the projectiles did not ignite massive fires, all of them
were thrown at homes where young children were sleeping, and could have easily
caused grave bodily harm.
A little over a week after the incident,
unknown assailants threw a fire bomb at a building housing Nigerian migrants
next to the Hatikva neighborhood market in south Tel Aviv.
Police said
they didn’t think there was a connection between that incident and the alleged
Molotov cocktail throwing in Shapira.