A plea deal recently reached in the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court ruled that a 27-year-old Arab who assaulted a Jewish minor in the Old City about two and a half years ago while throwing a glass bottle at him and wounding him would pay only NIS 1,500 in compensation.
According to the plea agreement, it was decided to amend the indictment and state that the defendant threw an object, and also the fact that the minor was injured in the head was dropped from the glass bottle.
Despite the statement of the victim of the offense and his objection, the plea agreement was accepted. The sentence handed down in the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court ruled that the defendant would be charged with monetary compensation to the complainant, would pay a fine of only NIS 500 and would not want any punishment of actual imprisonment or community service.
In the statement of the victim of the offense, the minor said that he was still in shock from the incident, and that he avoided moving to the scene of the incident following the injury and in the area in general. In the statement he described that while he was injured from the glass bottle he was bleeding from his head and felt intense pain, and finally demanded that the defendant be actually imprisoned.
According to the transcript of the sentence, Judge David Shaul Gabay Richter said “after hearing the parties and the defendant, I am satisfied that the arrangement is appropriate in the circumstances of the act, and in the circumstances of the doer and therefore I will respect.”
Advocate Haim Bleicher, who represented the victim of the crime on behalf of the Honno organization, wondered about the judge’s decision, “Why was the defendant not charged with a racist incident? “It is clear that he threw the bottle at the young man because of his hatred of the Jews,” he noted.
In addition, Advocate Bleicher said, “they were shocked to receive the plea agreement that puts the defendant out without a substantial sentence. The prosecution has committed three crimes here. The indictment deleted the bottle and decided that an object had been thrown and did not indicate that the complainant was injured. Defendant was also not charged with racist motive and ultimately also received no punishment. It is not clear to us why they came to the accused to such an extent, we think that such conduct harms deterrence and encourages racist crime. “