Police: Gang rape of disabled woman likely not nationalistic attack

The gang rape of a disabled Jewish woman by a Palestinian man and teenager and an Israeli man was likely not a nationalistically-motivated attack, police said on Sunday.

“Until now, there has been no indication of a nationalistic motive,” police spokesperson Luba Samri told The Times of Israel.

“The suspected rape is still under investigation,” she said.

The suspected rape is “a complex incident, and is likely not a nationalistic attack,” another police spokesperson added in an interview to Army Radio.

Police revealed last Wednesday that the two Palestinians were arrested in the rape of a mentally and physically handicapped Israeli woman in Jaffa earlier this month. A third man, an Israeli citizen, is also believed to have been involved in the sexual assault and remains at large. According to reports, one of the suspects filmed the attack.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday night used the incident to denounce the Israeli left and media, who he said didn’t condemn the attack. The prime minister on Friday backtracked and apologizing for drawing conclusions before the police investigation was completed.

In a Facebook post Thursday evening, Netanyahu said the “horrifying crime” warranted “wall-to-wall condemnation,” condemnation that was not forthcoming “neither from the media, nor from across the political spectrum.”

Posted alongside a screenshot of a Channel 2 report on the incident, Netanyahu added: “We can only imagine what would have happened if the tables were reversed,” suggesting that the outcry would have been stronger had Jewish men raped a disabled Palestinian woman.

Netanyahu’s post was roundly condemned by left-wing politicians.

On Friday, Netanyahu wrote that the “incident, as it was reported, caused me deep pain and shock. At the same time, it was wrong that I address the subject before an investigation and I regret that.”

Earlier Thursday, before Netanyahu’s original post, Meretz head Zehava Galon wrote on Facebook that the incident was “so awful, that it’s hard to even read about it, and impossible to imagine what the victim was going through right now.”

The men suspected of involvement in the attack are believed to have raped the disabled young woman and abused her, urinating and spitting on her, and shouting racial epithets during the attack, according to earlier reports.

One of the suspects, Imad Aldin Draghmah, allegedly filmed the brutal assault, the Walla news site reported.

The two Palestinians who have been arrested were originally from the West Bank but had been renting an apartment in Tel Aviv, a police spokesperson told The Times of Israel Wednesday.

The Palestinian man had a legal permit to live in Tel Aviv, while the minor was doing so illegally, the official said.

Due to the victim’s physical and mental disabilities, police said they are treating the case with increased sensitivity and “caution.”

The Palestinian man will remain in jail until at least Monday, according to a Tel Aviv court order.

The second suspect is underage, so his case is being handled by the Tel Aviv juvenile court. He will also be detained until Monday, police said