Man arrested on suspicion of shoving Haredi man to the ground in Tel Aviv
Police say they are questioning 26-year-old resident of Pardes Hanna; victim was walking down Allenby Street when he was pushed over
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Police said Tuesday that they arrested a man on suspicion of assaulting an ultra-Orthodox man who was violently pushed to the ground while walking in central Tel Aviv last week.
According to a statement from police, the suspect — a 26-year-old man from the northern town of Pardes Hanna — has been taken into custody for questioning.
Footage of the incident uploaded to Twitter on Sunday showed Levi Blau and two other men — all members of the Chabad movement — walking down Allenby Street when the assailant knocked Blau to the pavement in an apparently unprovoked attack.
Police said they opened the investigation into the incident on Sunday as soon as they received a complaint about the assault.
Blau told Channel 12 news that he and his companions were walking to the corner of Allenby and Ben Yehuda Street where they planned to encourage men to don phylacteries, when he was attacked by a stranger.
Phylacteries or tefillin are two small black boxes containing parchment with verses from the Hebrew Bible that are wound around the head and the arm with black leather straps.
אנטישמיות: הסרטון המזעזע הזה, מיום שישי האחרון, ברחוב אלנבי בתל אביב.
סיימתי עכשיו שיחה עם הבחור שהותקף: "אנחנו כהרגלנו, עושים 'מבצע תפילין' בתל אביב כמידי שבוע, הולכים על שדרת רחוב אלנבי, כשלפתע מגיע אדם מולנו, צועק 'חרדים' ודוחף אותי בכוח לרצפה".
מה דעתכם? pic.twitter.com/meGtGztXx2
— לוי נוישטט – levi noishtat (@levi_noishtat) September 4, 2022
“I never met him,” Blau said of his attacker. “I was on the floor for two minutes, completely shocked,” he added.
Blau’s father told the Walla news site that the attacker “hissed something against Haredim” during the assault. However, police made no mention of potential motive in their statement.
Michael Horovitz contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.