A 13-year-old Jewish boy, who just wanted to play on the basketball court in his neighborhood, was attacked by a group of Arab boys.
The boy who was attacked is the brother-in-law of Aharon Benita, who was stabbed to death in the Old City in an attack that marked the beginning of the knife intifada on the night of Hoshana Rabbah. His sister Odel was stabbed 17 times in the body in the same attack, which is infamously remembered for the cries of contempt and joy that the Arabs uttered at the sight of the two men wallowing in their blood.
The incident in which the boy was attacked began when the group of Arabs stole his bicycle and began riding it near the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. The boy asked them for his bicycle back, and in response, a young Arab man who was with the group kicked him. This kick was the signal for the beginning of a campaign of abuse. The group of boys began beating him, and even tried to set him on fire by spraying deodorant on him.
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A group of Jewish boys passing through the area saved the helpless boy when they came and rescued him from the Arab attackers.
Immediately after the incident, police were called to the scene, while the group of attackers were still on the court, in the middle of a basketball game. A police officer who arrived wrote down the details of the incident and passed it on to the station, but refused to arrest the attackers.
In response to the Jewish minor's father's outrage over this, the police officer referred the father to the police station to file a complaint.
The family turned to the Honenu organization for assistance. Attorney Menashe Yado of the civil department at Honenu issued an urgent letter to the commander of the Jerusalem Police District.
In the letter, Yado details the stages of the incident and the policeman's outrageous conduct, and demands that the rioters be immediately arrested, using cameras installed in the area.
""This is a very serious case of a brutal and violent attack on a Jewish child for no wrong done to him, against the backdrop of very severe trauma from a terrorist attack last year," says attorney Menashe Yado of Mhonenu.
He added: "For some reason, the police officer did not respond to the demand to arrest the attackers, and left them to roam free. We contacted the police, and we hope that they will make the arrest as quickly as possible, and bring the attackers to justice.".
