A haredi boy was snatched and brutally assaulted during Simchat Torah celebrations in the northern Jerusalem neighborhood of Neve Yaakov.
The attacker was reportedly wearing haredi garb. He is still at large.
According to Kikar Hashabat, the boy was attacked while walking home from synagogue on Simchat Torah afternoon, by a man with a blue kippah and brown shoes. The man grabbed the boy, picked him up, and dragged him to the courtyard of a house whose owners were abroad. The man then brutally assaulted the boy and left the courtyard. As soon as the attack was over, the boy ran home and told his parents what had happened.
The boy's parents immediately called the police, and child investigators interrogated the boy himself.
Though the attacker has not yet been found, the police have several leads which may lead to his identification.
During the past year, Neve Yaakov residents have begun to place security cameras in stairwells in order to prevent similar attacks and identify possible perpetrators.
"It's scary to live here," a Neve Yaakov resident said to Kikar Hashabat. "There have been more than a few cases in which children were attacked, but this is already serious because they snatched the kid by force in the middle of the afternoon and brutally assaulted him...it's become scary to send kids to synagogue. We hope they find the attacker soon."