Five yeshivah bochurim were attacked on Wednesday evening by a group of Arabs in Jerusalem.

The incident took place on Rechov Derech Chevron as the bochurim were walking down the street. Suddenly Arabs passing by in a car noticed the bochurim and swerved sharply toward them as if to run them over.

The car then screeched to a halt and three Arabs emerged and attacked one of the bochurim with their fists. The bochur collapsed and the Arabs fled the scene.

The bochur was evacuated to Shaarei Tzedek Hospital where he was evaluated to rule out a head injury. He was released later that night.

When the bochur went to the police station on Thursday morning to file a complaint, he learned to his disappointment that the Arab was arrested but was released after only three hours.

Attorney Chaim Bleicher of the Honenu legal aid organization, who is representing the victim, wrote a letter to the police demanding that they arrest the Arab they released and his friends who participated in the attack.

Bleicher demanded that the police transfer the case to the state attorney’s office as soon as possible in order to file an indictment against all those involved for assault under aggravated circumstances motivated by racism.

“This is a serious ramming attempt and assault of Jewish yeshiva students for no reason other than their Jewish appearance and motivated by anti-Semitic racism,” he wrote. “We demand that the police arrest the attackers and bring them to justice and that the prosecutor’s office act against them to the fullest extent of the law. The lives of Jews in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, aren’t hefker.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)