Beitar fan charged for hate crime attack on Arab employees at J'lem McDonalds

Avi Alkaim, 24, faces charges of racially-motivated aggravated assault and battery for incident.

By BEN HARTMAN
Fans shout at Betar Jerusalem match 370 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Fans shout at Betar Jerusalem match 370
(photo credit: REUTERS)
The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday indicted a Beitar Jerusalem FC fan for a racially motivated attack on three Arab Israeli employees of a McDonald’s restaurant in the city 10 days ago.
According to the indictment, on July 1, Avi Alkaim, 24, joined a group of fellow soccer fans at a McDonald’s in the Ein Kerem neighborhood, where they gathered outside and began singing anti-Arab songs and chanting slogans including “Death to Arabs,” “Muhammad was a homo, not a prophet” and “We don't want any Arabs in Israel.”
An employee named Tamer Tahah went outside to clean tables, at which point one of the fans walked up and looked at his name tag, before yelling “There's an Arab right here!” The fans chased Tahah inside the restaurant, with Alkaim striking him and two other Arab employees, according to the indictment. He also allegedly began throwing chairs, causing a glass partition to shatter.
                   
Tahah was lightly wounded in his right hand, suffered an abrasion to one of his forearms and required medical attention.
Alkaim faces charges of racially motivated aggravated assault and battery.
On Wednesday, he was also charged for an incident in March 2011, in which he allegedly threw a rock at four Hapoel Tel Aviv FC fans sitting in a car at Malha Mall, not far from Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem.
Prosecutors asked that Alkaim be kept on house arrest until the end of his trial.