Israeli police have arrested a total of five suspects in connection with an attack in Jerusalem early Friday that left a Palestinian citizen of Israel seriously injured, an Israeli police spokesman said Sunday.
Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told Ma'an that a special investigation team is looking into the incident and trying to work out the exact nature of the attack.
Five suspects, including one female, aged between 13-19 have been arrested in connection with the assault, which took place in the early hours of Friday in West Jerusalem's Zion Square.
Three of the suspects were arrested on Sunday, and the others on Saturday, including a 19-year-old man.
Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper, reported that the attack was allegedly perpetrated by dozens of Jewish teens, whom eyewitnesses say were wandering around the area "searching" for Arabs to beat up.
The report said the Palestinians were attacked by youths shouting "Death to the Arabs" and other slurs. One victim fell on the ground and was beaten until losing consciousness, the newspaper reported.
"I saw a lynch with my own eyes, in Zion Square, the center of the city of Jerusalem ….. and shouts of 'A Jew is a soul and Arab is a son of a –,' were shouted loudly," a witness wrote, according to Haaretz.
One of the victims, Jamal Julani, from Ras al-Amud in Jerusalem, remains in a serious condition in Hadassah Medical Center and has awoken from his coma but does not remember the assault, Haaretz reported.
"There were four of us," one of the cousins, Mohammed Mujahad, said on Saturday.
"We were walking and suddenly maybe 50 Jews came toward us shouting, 'Arabs Arabs.' I don't understand what they said. They weren't calling us. They were just generally shouting," Haaretz reported.
"Suddenly one of them said to Jamal, 'What are you doing, you son of a bitch?' Jamal tried to flee, but (the attacker) whacked him in the chest and (Jamal) fell with his head on the floor."
A police representative described the attack as a lynch to an Israeli magistrates court, saying that "only a miracle saved (Jamal) from death," according to Haaretz.
Front Page Features