11 Jewish teens charged with assaulting Arabs in Jerusalem

Racially-motivated attack in northern Jerusalem neighborhood of Pisgat Ze'ev took place on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day.

By ETGAR LEFKOVITS
bloody knife 88 (photo credit: )
bloody knife 88
(photo credit: )
Eleven Jewish teenagers have been indicted in a Jerusalem court for assaulting two Arabs teens in the city on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, in a racially-motivated hate crime. The suspects, Yaakov Ben Haim, 19, Liran Asraf, 18, and Morali Ben Moshe, 19, and eight other minors who cannot be named allegedly stabbed and beat two Arabs, aged 16 and 18, near the entrance to the shopping mall of the northern Jerusalem neighborhood of Pisgat Ze'ev. The suspects, who were arrested earlier this month, have either confessed to the allegations against them or connected themselves to the attack, according to police. The suspects met up outside a burger joint in the neighborhood at about 10 p.m. the night of May 1 after a message was sent out on ICQ, an Israeli-based instant messaging computer program, to "cleanse" both the neighborhood in general and mall in particular of Arab teens for "pestering" Jewish girls in the area, the charge sheet says. "It's time to put an end to all the Arabs that hang out in the neighborhood and at the mall, whistle to girls, curse and threaten little children. Any Jew who wishes to put an end to this should arrive at the Burger Ranch, where we will finally teach them not to walk around in our area... Whoever is willing to do this and has the Jewish blood to do so - write down your name and reply to this message," the text of the computer read. A couple dozen Jewish teens turned out at the allocated position, including some who were armed with boards, clubs, and knives, the indictment says. After waiting aimlessly for an Arab to turn up, the teens walked over to the neighborhood mall, which was closed due to Holocaust Remembrance Day, in the hopes of finding an Arab there. Shortly thereafter, the suspects brutally assaulted two Arab teens who were making their way home to the nearby Shuafat refugee camp, leaving one of them unconscious on the ground. The second victim, identified as Ahmed Abu Kamal, 18, managed to escape after being stabbed in the back, the indictment says. The assailants then fled the scene. A police patrol which happened to pass by uncovered the two wounded Arab teens, and medics rushed them to Hadassah University Hospital at Ein Kerem, where the moderately wounded minor was hospitalized for five days. As the victims of the attack were hospitalized, the eleven suspects planned to carry out another attack against Arabs at the same site in the outlying city neighborhood on the eve of Remembrance Day and sent out a second computer message to that effect, but were apprehended by police before they could carry out the second assault. The suspects, who have been placed under house arrest, were charged in the Jerusalem District Court with racially motivated aggravated assault, participation in a skirmish and conspiring to execute a crime. Footage of the attack was caught on tape by the mall's security cameras.