A Jewish father and son from Susya in the West Bank were indicted for breaking into a Palestinian family’s property, attacking the residents, and threatening them with a firearm.
They were charged with aggravated assault as well as assault and trespassing in the indictment filed in the Beersheba District Court.
The victim, “A,” 53, lives in old Susya, which is located in Area B, under Palestinian Authority civil control and Israeli military control.
Gad Luski is a soldier and was patrolling the area at the time
On the evening of June 20, an IDF soldier was patrolling the area when a forest fire broke out.
That night, at around 9 p.m., suspecting that the fire wasn’t natural due to heat and that A or others in the area had started it, Shem Tov Luski, 25, arrived at A’s family home along with other masked men, “without the victim’s consent, and with the goal of clashing with them, and hurting their person and property,” the indictment said.
Luski shouted something along the lines of, “Who lit my forest on fire?”
Later on, Luski approached another Palestinian man (30) who was near the house and punched him. The other masked men began to retreat, running as they threw stones at A, “in an effort to get him to leave the area.”
A, along with others who gathered, approached Luski as he was lifting a rock off the ground, and swung his arm back towards Shem Tov to stop him from flinging the rock at him.
Luski’s father, Gad Shalom Luski, 66, arrived soon after with the soldier who was patrolling the area and approached with his personal weapon aimed at A, calling out, “Get back.” Shem Tov began to retreat.
Gad Shalom’s weapon was an M-16 he received from the army for self-defense purposes.
A began to move toward the elder Luski and touched his gun. The soldier conducted a suspect arrest procedure, shooting once in the air, as Gad Shalom pointed his weapon at A.
As the soldier tried to remove A from the area, the younger Luski approached A, pushed him, and punched him with both hands. When he was on the ground, Luski kicked him several times, while A shouted to his companions to stay away. During this encounter, Gad Shalom kept his weapon aimed at them and eventually left the area.
A suffers from a broken nose, breaks in his ribs, and injuries in both feet.
Sarah Ben-Nun contributed to this report.