Far-right activist indicted for attempting to carry out anti-Arab attack
Suspect allegedly arrived in town of Abu Gosh carrying a knife, lighter fluid, spay paint, pepper spray and gloves before being spotted by police
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
The Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office filed an indictment against a far-right Jewish activist on Sunday, charging him with attempting to carry out a hate attack in an Arab Israeli town.
Dor Oved took a bus from his native town of Mevasseret Zion northwest of Jerusalem to the neighboring village of Abu Ghosh late on the night of January 4, according to the charge sheet. The suspect was carrying a bag with a knife, gasoline, a lighter, spray paint, pepper spray and gloves, the indictment said, specifying that Oved had planned on “damaging [Abu Ghosh] residents’ property due to his racist ideological motive of hostility toward the Arab public.”
A police car patrolling the area spotted Oved, who raised their suspicions as he tried to get rid of the knife in his possession. He was arrested at the scene and taken in for interrogation, during which he was barred from meeting with an attorney for a week — a tactic sometimes employed by police while probing what it says are urgent security cases.
Oved was charged with attempting racially motivated vandalism, unlawful possession of a knife and obstruction of the investigation against him. The Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office requested that the suspect remain behind bars until the end of the proceedings against him.
Posted by דור עובד on Sunday, May 27, 2018
The Honenu legal aid organization representing Oved said that his interrogators from the Shin Bet security service had used excessive force while questioning him.
Oved, 28, was convicted in 2018 of incitement to violence over messages he sent to a group of activists, urging them to injure the security forces carrying out the 2017 evacuation of the Amona outpost.
Oved’s attorney, Avichai Hajbee, said the indictment “demonstrates unequivocally the Shin Bet’s violation of my client’s rights,” and blasted the security service for its interrogation tactics against hilltop youth — young far-right Israeli activists who live and build outposts throughout the West Bank and sometimes carry out so-called price tag attacks against Palestinians and their property.
Last week, the Petah Tikva Magistrate’s Court released to house arrest three Israeli far-right suspects in a similar security-related case. The ruling came several days after Judge Ophir Katavi-Rivlin slammed the conduct of the Shin Bet over tactics it used to interrogate two of the suspects in the Jewish terror case, including sleep deprivation and midnight interrogations.
