Two teens charged with assault, arson in attack on Palestinian man’s home during Jerusalem Day march

State prosecutors this morning indicted two 16-year-olds after they allegedly broke into a Palestinian man’s home in the Old City, beat him and set fire to the entrance ahead of this year’s nationalist Flag March on Jerusalem Day.

The annual parade through the Old City’s Muslim Quarter often sees attacks by marchers on Palestinian residents and shop owners in the area, who are forced to close their places of business and shut themselves inside their homes to make way for the march.

The two defendants and several other youths had been roving around the Muslim Quarter in the morning, before the Flag March began. They approached the Palestinian man as he was in his home and shouted curses at him, calling him a “dirty Arab” and calling for “death to Arabs,” according to the indictment.

The teenagers then climbed over the gate into the Arab homeowner’s yard and tried to set his house on fire. One of the defendants broke his window with a stick, while the other took a towel from the laundry and set it alight, throwing it toward the entrance of his house.

When the Palestinian resident tried to stop the two teenagers from setting the entrance to his house on fire, one attacked him with a wooden stick, causing minor injuries.

The house suffered significant damage including a shattered window, scorched wall and damage to electrical cables, the indictment reads.

Officers were initially probing three teenagers in connection to the attack; however, indictments were only filed against two of them. One suspect was arrested on the spot the morning of the attack on May 26. Police arrested the other two a few days later, after identifying them through security camera footage of the incident, Haaretz reports.

The defendants face charges of arson, aggravated assault motivated by racism, willful damage motivated by racism and trespassing with the intent to commit a crime, among other charges.