From the Liveblog of
Monday, October 5, 2026
Five cops questioned on suspicion of assaulting, kidnapping Eilat man
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleThe Department of Internal Police Investigations says it questioned five officers today on suspicion of kidnapping, aggravated assault, and obstructing an investigation after they allegedly attacked a club-goer in Eilat on August 21, drove him out to a remote location, and abandoned him there with bruises and broken teeth.
The suspects were released to house arrest until Thursday and are forbidden to contact each other or enter police stations for 11 days, the internal police watchdog says.
They came to the club following a complaint that the club-goer had harassed a woman, and they then cuffed and kidnapped him “under the guise of police activity,” according to DIPI.
תיעוד: שוטרים מובילים את תושב אילת ידין וייט מחוץ למועדון לאחר מעצרו pic.twitter.com/TT084Z9DD5
— הארץ חדשות (@haaretznewsvid) August 24, 2026
The club-goer is Eilat resident Yahdeen White, 38, a member of the Black Hebrew Israelite Community.
The married father of one told The Times of Israel that the assault left him traumatized and unable to perform his job as a maintenance worker. He denied the police’s claim that he had harassed a woman at the club.
Security camera footage timestamped to about 4:20 a.m. that he shared with The Times of Israel showed officers escorting him out of Eilat’s Beatles club, just off Route 90.
Outside the club, he said, five officers knocked him to the ground, beat him and kicked him, he said. He recalled one officer telling the others to “make an example” of him.
“I thought I was going to die,” White said.
They continued attacking him as they put him in a police car and drove him to hills outside the city, where they abandoned him, White said.
White then called the Magen David Adom ambulance service, which had to geolocate his phone in order to pick him up because he did not know where he was, he said.
Police claimed at the time that the officers dropped White off where he asked them to. MDA told The Times of Israel that it had geolocated White’s location at 4:45 a.m. to Route 90.
The DIPI investigation was only opened after a Haaretz report revealed the attack on White.
The Times of Israel Community.