Nationalism? Three Jews were arrested yesterday on suspicion of involvement in an attack on Arabs last weekend in Jerusalem.
On Friday, a group of about 11 young Jews attacked two young Arabs from the Abu Hanina neighborhood. The attack took place at the Neve Yaakov intersection, when the two Arabs, Samer Mahfouz and Amir Shweiki, both 20, arrived at the scene to look for a ticket they had lost.
The Jewish youths attacked them and beat them brutally, with a baseball bat, an iron, and tear gas. Passersby called the police, but the youths managed to escape the scene.
Last night, three Jews suspected of being part of the group were arrested, and they will be brought to the city's Magistrate's Court this morning for a hearing on extending their detention. The remaining suspects have not yet been arrested. It is suspected that the act was carried out on nationalistic grounds.
Mahfouz told Walla! News that they arrived at the Neve Yaakov intersection to look for Shweki's work card, which he had lost. "We couldn't find it, so we said we'd sit by the traffic light for a while. Suddenly, a guy came up to me and asked me, 'Do you have a cigarette?' I said no, and that was it." After a few minutes, the guy returned with more friends, "There were ten, 11 of them. I saw that they had a bat, an iron and tear gas. They didn't say anything, just 'Arabs, Arabs.' With my last strength, I shouted 'Amir! Amir!'. I wanted to help him, but I couldn't move. I saw that they mostly beat him.".
They claim that the police interrogated them while they were lying injured on the ground, and did not take them by ambulance to a hospital. Only half an hour later did the police take them to Beit Hanina, and their family members transferred them to Al-Maqdisar Hospital in the A-Tur neighborhood.
The two criticized the police's handling of the case. According to them, when a police car arrived, even though Shweiki's condition was serious, the investigators decided to question them in the field, while he was lying on the ground. "They questioned us there, on the floor," Mahfouz said. "They told us, 'You don't need an ambulance.' Only after half an hour did they take us to Beit Hanina." The two were taken by their family members to Al-Muqassed Hospital in the city's A-Tur neighborhood.
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