Jerusalem assault: Jewish man sues Arab attacker for 125,000 NIS

An Arab resident of Jerusalem attacked a Jew with pepper gas while riding his bicycle in the Old City four years ago. After the attack, the Arab was arrested and charged, according to the lawyers, with the offense of assault only and not of racially motivated assault, and was sentenced as part of a settlement to one month in prison and payment of compensation of NIS 1,000 to the plaintiff.

After the verdict, a civil lawsuit was filed through the Honenu organization in the amount of NIS 125,000 in the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court against the assailant. The statement of claim filed: "The plaintiff was on his way home riding his bicycle. When he arrived from the Jaffa Gate, he turned left onto the Greek Patriarchate Street, and at the beginning of the street he noticed a young man from minorities riding his bicycle behind him."

"The defendant bypassed the plaintiff and while he was parallel to him, he shouted in his ear loudly, swore at him, pressed his hand to his face and made obscene gestures towards him," it was written: "After about 100 meters, the defendant stopped in front of a liquor store and waited for the plaintiff to move further away from him, the plaintiff continued riding his bicycle in order to pass the defendant quickly. So when the plaintiff was about to pass the defendant, the defendant drove quickly toward him, reached out his hand while holding pepper spray, pressed it in front of him at point-blank range and sprayed into the plaintiff's eyes."

Attorney Bleicher said: "The civil lawsuit revolves around an anti-Semitic-nationalist-racist incident of harming a person because of his Jewish appearance. Unfortunately, the State Attorney's Office refrained from filing an indictment for racist motives and transferred it to the police prosecutions, which filed for simple assault despite the clear racist motive, and thus the offender was sentenced to a ridiculous punishment. As far as we are concerned, we have demanded increased and punitive damages, since the motive of the serious act, as well as the intensity of the damage and injury, are severe and require the exact payment of a price that has a clear statement and deterrence in order to bring about the eradication of the phenomenon."