Arab Convicted for Intentional Assault on Haredi Jew On His Way to Pray in Jerusalem's Old City

Assault Driven by Hatred

The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court has delivered a verdict against an Arab man, convicting him of assault after he intentionally sprayed a Jewish man with a garden hose in the Old City of Jerusalem. Crucially, the court explicitly determined that the perpetrator's actions were driven by racist motivations targeting the victim due to his Haredi, or ultra-Orthodox, appearance.

The incident under review occurred approximately four years ago. The victim, a Jewish man, was walking late at night toward prayers near the Council Gate of the Temple Mount. The convicted individual was standing nearby, occupied with cleaning a mobility scooter using a garden hose. The court found that the suspect then deliberately redirected the hose and sprayed water at the Jewish man multiple times.

Escalation Warning

Attorney Chaim Bleicher, who represented the victim in the proceedings, characterized the act as unequivocally antisemitic, arguing that its sole purpose was to humiliate the Jewish man simply for practicing his faith and appearing Haredi.

Bleicher strongly emphasized the danger of such seemingly minor acts of hostility being ignored. He stressed, "If such an incident of humiliation goes by quietly, next time it will be bodily harm, God forbid." He added that incidents like this, which have the potential to spread and escalate into more severe attacks, must be immediately and severely addressed by the justice system.

In addition to pursuing criminal charges, the victim has also initiated a separate civil lawsuit against the perpetrator, seeking compensation and accountability for the racist assault. The conviction and the court's explicit finding of a racist motive mark a significant legal acknowledgment of the antisemitic nature of the attack within the Old City, highlighting ongoing tensions and the necessity of firm judicial response to hate crimes targeting religious Jews.