Two Gerrer Chassidim who were attacked in Jerusalem last Shabbos turned to legal aid organization Honenu – who has been in contact with police and has learned that two arrests were made, both of them residents of the eastern part of the Capital.
Honenu attorney Chaim Bleicher explains the attack “was a serious anti-Semitic incident”. He added, “Every day I deal with terror victims. This is a different kind of event, an event that reminds us of the darkest days when Jews were humiliated and trampled. Not only did they physically harm the victims, they were also humiliated and subjected to a very serious racist and anti-Semitic event.”
“During the incident, the attackers forced the victims to say in Arabic the verses of the ‘testimony’ of the conversion to Islam, praise the Hamas terrorist organization, curse the State of Israel and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, all while the terrorists document the event. We are happy that our referral to the police led to quick action. We will accompany the investigation until the terrorists are fully prosecuted.”
The two Gerer Chassidim were lucky enough to escape their tormentors, who were aged 18 and 19 respectively after they were beaten and forced to humiliate themselves on camera. They ran from the Shiloah spring to the Dung Gate where they reported to a Border Police officer that they had been attacked and beaten. The officer told them to carry on their way to the Kosel and that he would deal with the situation appropriately.
After the detention of the two suspects, a police representative confirmed that one of the suspects, Daweed Ka’ak, had previously been questioned regarding his involvement in a religion and race-based attack, but was not convicted of them at the time. The judge partially granted the request of the police to arraign the suspects until Friday in order to allow the police to continue their investigation into what was called “an entire series of heinous race crimes”.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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4 Responses
embarrassing.
I guess they missed that day in cheider when the rest of the class learned what the Big Three were…
First of all conversion to Islam, while certainly not on the recommended list is not avoda zara according to most opinions. Secondly even if it were, in a case like this, there’s no shaila of yehorag v’al yavor because dibur is not ma’ase.
Chareidi Amiti – if you were really a Chareidi Amiti you would have more ahavas Yisroel for your fellow Jew rather than making a snide comment about the victims missing the Big 3 in Cheder. Al Tehi Dan es Chavercha ad Shetagia Lmkomo. My hope is that none of us should ever be faced with such a nisayon. It’s certainly not our place to judge people who were in a situation of pikuach nefesh, while we are sitting in the comfort of our home reading Yeshiva World News….
chatzkal
The way I was taught in cheder is that the Rambam conisders that – for Muslims – the Muslim stoning ceremony in Mecca does not constitute idolatry for those Muslims that view it as stoning to defile an ancient idol (that came from one of his letters that is still extant). But when it comes to Jews, the Rambam does indeed consider any conversion to Islam as apostasy, as he clearly writes in one of his letters (still extant) that his family was saved from apostasy when they escaped (by making their way to Egypt) the Muslim invaders who were invading Spain.