News update

Faith Queen Salifu:

30th May, 2021

The news in full:

Indictment says the suspects decided to assault an Arab after participating in a right-wing march ■ Four Arabs arrested for allegedly attacking Jewish family in Israel’s north amid unrest.

Four Jewish residents of Jerusalem were indicted on Sunday for allegedly attempting to murder a Palestinian in the city earlier this month, during the latest military operation in Gaza.

According to the indictment, the four suspects participated in a May 12 right-wing march in the flash point East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. After the march, the indictment alleged, they walked toward the Mahane Yehuda market in the western part of the city and agreed to physically assault an Arab. They allegedly spotted a young Palestinian man working for a local restaurant who had gone out to empty garbage.

According to the indictment, they asked him if he was an Arab, and when he told him he was, they began beating him. One of them sprayed pepper spray in the man’s face and the other stabbed him in the back 10 times, the indictment claimed. The man was brought to the hospital in very serious condition. The four suspects were arrested after a Shin Bet security service investigation, which described the case as an act of terrorism. The prosecution asked the court to detain the men for the duration of the legal proceedings against them.

Meanwhile, on Friday four residents of the central Israeli Arab town of Kafr Qara were arrested for allegedly assaulting a Jewish family who had entered the town by mistake, setting fire to the local police station, and throwing rocks at police.

During the May 13 incident, three members of a family drove into Kafr Qara by mistake and a group of local residents attacked the car. Police rescued the occupants of the vehicles, who required medical treatment.