Settler filmed beating Palestinian woman unconscious with club indicted on terror charges

Prosecutors indict a 24-year-old Israeli settler on terror charges after he was filmed beating a Palestinian woman unconscious with a club as she tried to harvest olives near the West Bank village of Turmus Ayya last month.

The defendant, Ariel Dahari, resides on the Oz Yair illegal outpost northeast of Ramallah. He is accused of joining other Jewish masked extremists in rampaging through the area, assaulting several olive harvesters and damaging a vehicle at the scene.

Dahari allegedly assaulted a resident who had tried to escape him by car, forcing open the vehicle’s door, pulling him out and chasing him down the hill while pelting him with stones.

The defendant is known to Israeli authorities in the West Bank, according to police, who arrested him on November 9, weeks after the attack in October.

The assault sparked outrage in Israel and abroad after Dahari was filmed beating 52-year-old Afaf Abu ‘Olia with a club, knocking her out with a severe head injury. She was hospitalized for a week as a result of the beating.

He is charged today with committing two terror-related assault charges and damaging a vehicle in a group with a racist motive. Prosecutors are requesting that the Jerusalem District Court order him remanded until the end of legal proceedings against him.