Two yeshiva students accused of severely injuring woman during protest

The prosecutor's office filed an indictment accusing the students of lighting a bin on fire and pushing it down the road, causing it to hit a woman.

 Ultra orthodox jewish men protest against a cellular shop in the Geula neighborhood, Jerusalem, on December 22, 2022. (photo credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)
Ultra orthodox jewish men protest against a cellular shop in the Geula neighborhood, Jerusalem, on December 22, 2022.
(photo credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)

The Jerusalem prosecutor’s office filed an indictment Monday against 22-year-old Meir Kazav and an unidentified 16-year-old for their alleged involvement in igniting and pushing a garbage bin that careened into a mother of 11 who was walking in the area and was critically injured.

The two suspects are students in a Jerusalem yeshiva who participated in protests led by ultra-Orthodox radicals last month after the arrest of a man suspected of setting an electronics store on fire in a dispute over kashrut certificates for shops selling “kosher cell phones.”

The indictment charged the two with causing serious injury under aggravating circumstances, arson and impeding a police officer. The prosecutor’s office requested that the court order the suspects detained until the end of legal proceedings.

How was the woman injured in the protest?

The woman, Mirel Djalowski, was walking near the protest in which hundreds of men were involved. According to the indictment, the suspects set the garbage receptacle on fire and pushed it down the road.

It struck Djalowski and pinned her to a wall.

Medical teams arrived and took her to the hospital in an apparently moderate condition with injuries to her ribs and abdomen, but a few hours later her condition worsened, and she has been on life support ever since.

 Ultra orthodox jewish men protest against the autopsy of a 4-year old boy who was murdered by a family member in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramot a few days ago, in Jerusalem, August 14, 2022. (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)
Ultra orthodox jewish men protest against the autopsy of a 4-year old boy who was murdered by a family member in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramot a few days ago, in Jerusalem, August 14, 2022. (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)

The violent protest was fueled by hundreds of people who set fire to garbage bins, blocked traffic and threw stones at police officers.

On a nearby street, protesters damaged a police car. (Walla)