Two soldiers arrived in the emergency room of Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center on Friday night after being assaulted by a group of Arab males. The soldiers, who were not dressed in uniform, were walking near Rambam when the vehicle stopped alongside them and the occupants asked “are you Jewish?” It appears they wished to make absolute certain they two were Jews, asking a number of times.

Once the assailants were satisfied that the intended victims responded correctly to their inquiry, they emerged from the vehicle and began beating them with batons. Police describe the weapons as “metallic rods”. They also wrote Arabic graffiti on the foreheads of one of the victims.

Four suspects, all Haifa residents, are in custody and police are reporting on Sunday morning, February 26, 2012, that additional arrests are expected.

The attack occurred at about 2:00am Shabbos morning (Friday night to Shabbos morning), and the soldiers reportedly sustained soft tissue injuries over a vast areas of their bodies. The soldiers shouted for assistance and hospital security personnel from the medical center responded. The attackers fled the scene. Baruch Hashem security officials arrived when they did, before the two were seriously injured or worse. Both are hospitalized in Rambam.

Senior police commanders are treating the attack as a hate crime and have ordered northern district police to give the case top priority.

In his response to the assault, MK (Ichud HaLeumi) Yaakov Katz questioned why the soldiers did not defend themselves and try fighting back instead of pleading for mercy. He feels their actions attest to the bankrupt education in the IDF today.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)