Israel Police confirmed that the children who were walking near Yishuv Migdalim in Shomron and attacked by dozens of Arab rioters will be recognized as victims of hostile acts. The documents issued by the police said that “clear evidence was found that the damage was caused by an act of hostility against Israel,” an act that was clearly an attempted lynch of the bar mitzvah age youths and the two fathers who were escorting them.

The adult who accompanied the children and was injured by a stone that threw one of the rioters into the head was also recognized as a victim of hostile acts. He was first facing charges of negligent manslaughter for firing his licensed weapon, killing one of the attackers. It later became clear to police that his actions were justifiable, if not praiseworthy.

This week, police arrested six residents of Kutzra who are suspected of participating in the attack.

The father of one of the children whose son was attacked during the trip said: “The recognition of the grave incident that our children have experienced as a hostile act is a true step, and that is what must be done. The rioters themselves – each and every one of them to try and judge in the most serious manner – and collectively – the village from which this riot was organized is not the first to be punished collectively: the denial of work permits, encirclement of the village and other things that the security establishment knows how to do.”

Honenu attorney Chaim Bleicher, who accompanies the victims of the crime in the case explained: “The recognition of the travelers who survived the lynching as victims of hostility reminds us that the struggle for the right of a Jew to live in his country is still continuing at full force.

“There is still a bitter enemy here who is trying to harm us because we are Jews and unwilling to accept the fact of the return of our people to its land. We call on all government, law and security systems to act forcefully against the enemy and to ensure the right of every child in Israel to travel freely and safely in the open areas adjacent to his home and throughout the country.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)