Settler held for attempting to run over, attack Palestinians
Beitar Illit resident tried repeatedly to hit street cleaner with his car, admits to other nationalist-motivated attacks, according to court filing
An Israeli settler was accused of attempting to run over a Palestinian street cleaner in a nationalistic attack, according to preliminary court papers filed Monday.
The suspect, a 25-year-old resident of the ultra-Orthodox West Bank settlement of Beitar Illit, was arrested on Wednesday after police received a complaint by a Palestinian man employed by the city as a street cleaner.
According to the complaint, earlier in the day the suspect drove up to the Palestinian as he was at work in the settlement, got out of his car and engaged him in conversation in an attempt to confirm that the man was Arab.
The suspect then allegedly returned to his car and accelerated toward the man, attempting to hit him repeatedly with his car by reversing the vehicle and then driving at him again, before finally speeding away.
The Palestinian was not hurt. He filed a complaint with police later in the day and, following a police investigation, the suspect was arrested the next day.
During his questioning, the suspect confessed to five other unsolved instances of violence and vandalism targeting Palestinians or their vehicles in Beitar Illit.
He is set to be charged with six counts of endangering human life on a thoroughfare for nationalist motives, attacks that caused real injury, and deliberately damaging a vehicle, police said in a statement after a preliminary charge sheet was filed Monday.
The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court on Monday extended the suspect’s detention for four more days while prosecutors prepare the indictment.
