A Shufersal employee, Kamel Hamidan, was sentenced to 12 months of prison time on Sunday after he was filmed in 2019 abusing a fellow coworker who is disabled.
Hamidan, who is a resident of east Jerusalem, was also slapped with tens of thousands of shekels in compensation by the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court.
What happened in Shufersal in 2019?
The video, which circulated three years ago, shows Hamidan hitting a disabled haredi worker whose hands are tied together with nylon wrap in the Gush Etzion branch of the supermarket chain.
"The damage incurred by the victim is significant," reads the indictment, "as shown by this video and by a survey of the incident.
"The defendant does not have any mental or psychological limitation - can he not understand, as a human being, how wrong this act is? Does the defendant need specific instructions from his boss to not tie up a fellow worker who is disabled? Not to hit him, to belittle him and to force him to answer invasive sexual questions, while it all is being filmed?"
The lawyers representing the haredi man, Chanamel Dorfman and Yosefi Mazar, thought that 12 months and thousands in compensation were not a severe enough punishment.
"The indictment describes a list of terrible acts committed against a helpless man that was filmed and spread online. The indictment sent an important message in the realm of criminal justice, but it does not express any civil responsibility on the part of Shufersal towards their employee and the damages he has suffered."
The indictment sent an important message in the realm of criminal justice, but it does not express any civil responsibility on the part of Shufersal towards their employee and the damages he has suffered."
The lawyers
Others agreed with that sentiment, like Religious Zionist Party MK and licensed attorney Itamar Ben Gvir, who represented the haredi man in court before joining the Israeli parliament.
"The court's indictment sends an important message, but the punishment should have been harsher," he said, "the prison time ranges from 12 to 24 months. In such a severe case, it would have been more appropriate to give the harshest punishment possible."
The lawyers added that they will be demanding the full civil compensation possible from Hamidan and from Shufersal.