The driver who fatally rammed his minibus into an unruly crowd of drunken fringe youth who were attacking him on the corner of Shivtei Yisrael in Jerusalem, killing a Chareidi man, was identified on Monday as Ibrahim Hamed, a resident of east Jerusalem.
Hamed, who was hospitalized following the incident, which killed Itamar Ben Abu, z’l, 47, of Mevaseret Tzion, was released from the hospital on Monday morning and brought to Jerusalem’s Magistrate’s Court, where his detention was extended by three days. He is suspected of reckless manslaughter.
Hamed told police that he had no intention of running over anyone and he was just trying to flee the scene and save his life as the youth were punching and kicking him after surrounding his minibus, yelling “Arab, Arab.” Photos of Hamed in court reveal deep scratches on his face.
“They attacked me from all directions,” he said. “It was a lynch. I didn’t mean to ram anyone. I was trying to save my life and I fled. I was the one who called the police in order to turn myself in. I was on the way to work to drive Jewish workers and I was caught in this situation. They saw I was an Arab and they attacked me.”
“On the videos, you can see the criminals trying to enter his car and my client’s body has signs of violence,” said Hamed’s lawyer, who slammed the judge’s decision to extend his client’s detention. “The rioters broke into his car while my client was still in his car – before the ramming.”
“Do you intend to arrest the criminals who lynched him?” Hamed’s lawyer asked the judge. “Instead of bringing the suspects to court, we’re here to extend the detainment of the victim – a man who arrives at his place of work and is lynched – they almost killed him. The police arrested only the victim. The true suspects are those criminals and they weren’t arrested. If they were Arabs, the police would have closed down the city until they arrested them.”
It should be noted that in the course of the hearing, evidence was presented of the Arab driver’s positive relationship with Charedim, many of whom were his clients. “There are many videos that show my client’s positive relationship with Chareidim,” the lawyer said.
Ironically, in 2014, Hamed’s father was badly injured in a terrorist attack but was arrested by the police when they arrived at the scene because they mistakenly thought he was the terrorist. He later died of his wounds in the hospital.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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8 Responses
I believe him and not them. I’ve seen first hand the kind of animals these ortho-psychos can be!
Kach is correct.
@kach
and kachniks are not?!
Just because a few crazy teenagers do something terribly wrong, doesn’t give you a right to label an entire group of people
Kach you are truly inspiring! Mi Keamcha Yisroel!
@Kach
Rambam, Sefer Hamitzvot, Mitzvos Aseh 177:
The source of this commandment is G‑d’s statement, “Judge your people fairly.” [Vayikra 19:5] This mitzvah includes the law that one is required to judge one’s fellow favorably, and to explain his words and actions only in a good and kind way.
Also Rambam, in his peirush to Avos [1:6]
And judge every man to the side of merit: This refers to when you are unsure about a certain individual whether or not he is righteous or wicked, and you witness him doing an act or saying something that may be interpreted as either good or bad. In such a case, judge favorably and do not think he is doing something wrong.
(paraphrasing:) In the case of a supposed good individual, even if it takes great mental gymnastics to construe the action as positive, one has an obligation to do so. In the case of a known sinner on the other hand, even if the perception is that a certain action is good, one should not be swayed to think that this individual is doing something positive, and must judge him unfavorably.
The Mishneh Berurah paskens like this l’halachah [156:4]:
Our Sages, of blessed memory, said with reference to [Vayikra 19:15] “With justice you shall judge your fellow” that one must judge his fellow favorably. See Shabbos 127a,b. Someone who suspects the upright of having acted improperly will suffer bodily. [Yoma 19b]
So, if you claim to be a follower of Judaism, you may wish to re-think your opinion until we know otherwise.
what happened is terrible!! but the driver forget that he is an arab was trying to run away from a wild drunk crowd of frainkim anyone in Israel can tell you they are just as dangerous as terrorist!!
i myself was once stoned by 2 frainkim when i was walking down the street minding my own business
Nice try. Name the last time Jews lynched an Arab. I can tell you that Arabs rammed dozens if not a hundred times Jews to death.
Kach- I was was being sarcastic in case you thought otherwise………….