Right-wing activist arrested after attacking cops
Kiryat Arba resident under house arrest pushed, slammed door on police officers carrying out routine check
Raoul Wootliff is a former Times of Israel political correspondent and Daily Briefing podcast producer.
Police arrested a man near Hebron Sunday night after he attacked officers during an inspection of right-wing activists under house arrest.
Officers were carrying out inspections in in the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba when a man in his 20s lashed out at officers who arrived at his house.
The police checks were intended to make sure people were keeping to restraining orders and house arrests.
According to a police statement, when officers arrived at the house, the suspect forcefully threw open the door which hit one officer in the face. He shouted, “Do the check, then get out of here,” as he again hit officers with the door.
He was arrested on one count of attacking an officer and taken for questioning at a local police station. Police said he also spat at an officer during the arrest.
“The Israel Police views attacks on its officers with the utmost severity and will work to bring the perpetrators to justice,” the police statement said.
On Sunday night, violent clashes broke out between right wing activists and police at a Jerusalem demonstration against the prolonged detention of Jewish Israelis suspected of carrying out a fatal firebombing in the West Bank Palestinian village of Duma in July.
About three hundred demonstrators blocked traffic in the Chords Bridge area, near the main entrance to the capital, and some hurled stones at police officers. Police in turn rushed the violent protesters in a bid to disperse the rally, arresting six activists.
Six police officers were wounded by violence directed at them by a small minority of the protesters, a police statement said.
Earlier Sunday, the Shin Bet security service announced a “development” in the Duma case. However, the agency stressed that a strict gag order on details about the case was still in place.
The July 31 attack, which killed three members of the Dawabsha family in the village of Duma, near Nablus. Only one member of the family — four-year-old Ahmed — survived the attack, and remains hospitalized in Israel. Baby Ali was killed on the night of the attack, while parents Riham and Sa’ad died of their injuries in the succeeding weeks.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
