Earlier, court released settler to house arrest; judge says Ze'ev Braude shot Palestinians to prevent lynch.
By JPOST.COM STAFFhebron shooter Braude 248.88 ch 2(photo credit: Channel 2)
Ze'ev Braude, the Kiryat Arba man suspected of shooting two Palestinians during clashes that followed the evacuation of Hebron's Beit Hashalom last week, was indicted on Wednesday for causing injury with malicious intent.
Earlier in the day, the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court ordered that Braude be released to house arrest.
Judge Malka Aviv said Braude was a "grown man whom the Palestinians tried to lynch [and was helpless]."
"This is a man without a [criminal] past, [and] this is the first incident in which he found himself in trouble," she said.
Braude's lawyer Ariel Etri praised the decision, saying that the "cat is out of the bag."
Braude and Gabi Bibi were arrested in connection with the incident. Both settlers say they were defending themselves from being lynched, while the Palestinians said they were innocent bystanders and were attacked for no reason. Some of the incident was caught on film and released by the B'Tselem NGO.
"Braude is not a danger, the prosecution is requesting that he remain in custody only to satisfy the media and because of political pressure," Etri said.
Aviv criticized the police's handling of the case.
"The fact that the police would make light of the actions of the Palestinians to such an extreme degree - we must apply this [standard also] to the suspect," she said. "We cannot allow such an obvious double standard."
On Sunday, Aviv was already prepared to order police to release Bibi.
However, at the time, she accepted the police allegation that Braude had deliberately provoked Palestinians by straying from the path he was walking on and heading toward a Palestinian home, and therefore ordered that he remain in custody.
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