Jerusalem resident Baruch Pruss, a Jew who works as a repairman, was spared from a near-lynch on Thursday. He was viciously attacked in the Arab neighborhood of Isawiya. Police failed to protect him despite multiple calls, he accuses.
Pruss arrived in Isawiya to provide service to an Arab man who had purchased a washing machine from the electrical appliance company he works for, Elran.
"I went into [Isawiya], I got to the house, I fixed the washing machine, and I started to head home," he recalled in an interview with Arutz Sheva's Hebrew-language news service. "When I walked out of the house, Arabs from the village, who had been waiting to ambush me, fell on me and began to attack.
"They threw concrete blocks and huge stones from the roof of the house I'd been working in," he said.
Pruss ran back into the house and closed the door. The homeowner tried to help him escape, he said, but was not successful. However, the attackers did not force their way into the building, choosing instead to attack his car.
In the meantime, he said, he called the police. "I told them I was in trouble, I explained that my life was in danger. They told me 'We're trying to help.' A van never came, even though there's a Border Police station right across from the entrance to the village," he accused.
Ultimately, he was saved not by police, but by older Arabs living in the area who helped him leave, he said. He managed to drive his car despite the heavy damage.
When he reached the entrance to Isawiya he called police again and told them where he was. The police told him that they would not enter Isawiya, and asked that he come to the station to file a complaint, which he did, he said.
The car was taken to a repair shop with the roof, front hood, and front windshield completely destroyed.