Three Jewish teens were arrested Saturday in connection to an attack on an Arab man in Katamon, Jerusalem late on Wednesday night. The victim, a worker at a local hotel, suffered a broken leg in the assault.
The three admitted to the crime. They told police they had attacked the man because they believed he had planned to sexually assault a woman.
The victim was transporting a heavily intoxicated female colleague. The attackers saw the two and assumed that the man had been looking for a drunk Israeli woman to exploit. Reports of Jerusalem Arab men harassing local Jewish women have been increasingly frequent in some parts of the city.
The victim of the attack, 28-year-old Ibrahim Abu Taa, says he knows the woman from work and was just trying to get her home safely.
Police say they expect to make further arrests in the case.
The assault came just three weeks after a gang attack on a group of Arab men at the hands of Israeli teens in downtown Jerusalem. One of the victims, who had a heart condition, was left in critical condition.