The Jerusalem District Court on Tuesday accepted the appeal of the lawyers of Elisha Yered, who was arrested following an attempted lynch of Jewish shepherds by a violent Arab mob from the village of Burqa, and released him to house arrest.

One of the Jews, Yechiel Indor, was seriously injured and shot a Palestinian in self-defense but nevertheless was arrested and is still under detention while recovering from surgery in the hospital. Indor will be brought to the Jerusalem Magistrate Court on Wednesday for a hearing.

Yered is not a suspect in the shooting but was arrested for the alleged obstruction of the police investigation. According to his lawyers, Yered took Indor’s weapon and returned it to Indor’s house [while Indor was being evacuated to the hospital] in order that it wouldn’t be left in the field near the Palestinian village. When the police arrived at his home and arrested him for allegedly obstructing the investigation, he immediately informed them where the weapon was and provided them a detailed account of what happened.

During the hearing, the judges reprimanded the police, who came unprepared to the hearing as they struggled to provide any evidence against Yered. After they were unable to provide any evidence that Yered obstructed the investigation, the court accepted the appeal and released him. However, he is still subject to restrictive conditions – he must remain in house arrest, he’s forbidden from making phone calls and he must post a NIS 6,000 bail.

Attorney Avichai Hajabi said: “Today we understand that at the beginning of the hearing, the representative of the police investigative unit failed to show the court any evidence. From the beginning, we believed that this case was riddled with wrong assumptions by the investigative unit, with selective enforcement between Yered and Indor and the Palestinians who brutally beat and assaulted them. We believe that in the next few days, they will be released and the case will be closed.”

Attorney Nati Rom criticized the conduct of the police: “Israel Police arrived unprepared. The judge did not understand – ‘What, there is nothing to this case.’ We very much hope that they will be released…there is no case here. We see more and more that someone who saved his own life and that of others is unfortunately detained in the hospital, even when he is in intensive care, even when he is before surgery. This should never have happened.”

“The 300 rioters, who, as the police said – there was no doubt that there was significant violence against the Jews – unfortunately not all of them were arrested. Even those who were arrested – it was after several days and meanwhile they were with their families, unlike my client. Even when they are arrested, they are not charged with crimes such as attempted murder like my client, although he did nothing but protect his life and the lives of others.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)