Parents held after son details abuse on Facebook

Couple arrested after 14-year-old writes on Israel Police's Facebook page that he had been regularly beaten for past 6 years.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Using Facebook on the Internet 370 (R) (photo credit: reuters)
Using Facebook on the Internet 370 (R)
(photo credit: reuters)
An Israeli couple has been arrested after their 14-year-old son wrote on Israel Police's official Facebook page complaining that they were beating him.
"My parents have been hitting me on a regular basis since I was eight years old," the boy wrote.
"Whenever there was an argument at home, even if I wasn't a part of the fight, if I made eye contact with my father he would get mad and hit me forcefully, sometimes with a belt," he continued.
The boy said his parents always blamed him for any argument that started in the house, and not his 21-year-old and 24-year-old sisters, and said he would get beaten and threatened by his parents.
He also said his parents thought he "wasn't a good enough boy" because he's "short and fat and whenever I managed to forget all of these things, they had to remind me of it."
"I've been holding it in for four years. I am afraid to go to the school's counselor or the police because [my parents] would think I am an embarrassment to the family," he told the police in his Facebook post.
A police officer spoke to the boy on Facebook, and another arrived at the boy's house to speak to him in person. Following that, the parents were arrested and held for questioning.
The boy was also questioned at a Haifa police station, where he told officers his parents beat him with a belt and with a stick.
The parents admitted to have hit the boy "to discipline him," but denied severely hitting him with a stick and with a belt. A Haifa judge extended their remand by two days.