Jerusalem man sentenced to a year in jail for assaulting Arab

A Jerusalem man convicted of beating an Arab municipality worker with iron rods in a hate crime last fall was sentenced on Wednesday morning to 12 months in prison.

Eliezer Ofri, 21, who was convicted of racially motivated aggravated assault in a plea deal in the Jerusalem District Court, was sentenced to 12 months behind bars.

Israel Radio reported that the trials of Ofri’s two brothers, Shlomo, 30, and David, 28, who were also allegedly involved in the attack, are ongoing, as they have so far refused to sign a plea bargain.

According to the indictment, the three brothers stopped their car next to two workers who were painting parking spaces last October and began hurling racial epithets, in the attack that took place last October.

The brothers got out of their car and began chasing the two workers. One of the victims ran into a convenience store to hide in the bathroom, with the brothers following close behind. The suspects knocked over shelves, saying that “the Arab would pay” for the damage.

A security camera at the store recorded footage of the brothers beating the man with an iron rod and a pole and then fleeing. The man, who suffered injuries to his arm and face, called the police, who found and arrested the brothers after a brief investigation.

The attack took place as inter-ethnic tensions ran high in the capital in the wake of the war in Gaza.