Two Palestinian Authority residents were arrested Monday in connection with a video showing the two assaulting and humiliating a haredi man at an Israeli supermarket.
The two suspects are employed at a branch of the Shufersal supermarket chain located in the Gush Etzion region south of Jerusalem, where the victim also works.
The two have been accused of abusing the young special-needs haredi man, who filed a complaint at a police station in Beitar Illit with the help of attorney and Otzma Yehudit chairman Itamar Ben-Gvir.
A recently-released video went viral, showing one of the employees humiliating the young haredi man, tying him up in saran wrap, and slapping him on the neck and face.
The young man says the Arab worker in the video, as well as the one who filmed the incident, had abused him in the past. He also said that he had suffered similar abuse for years from other workers, but that his complaints to the supermarket’s management had never led to real changes.
One of the Arab employees involved in the incident later claimed that the video was taken out of context, and that he is friends with the young haredi man, and that the behavior caught on film was intended as a joke.
We're friends, we've been working at the store for five years. It's not like you said, that I hit him - G-d forbid."
"They thought I did it on purpose but there are cameras all over the store - why would I hit him if there are cameras in the store? I apologize for what happened."
On Sunday, the young haredi man filed the complaint with police, prompting officers to detain the two suspects for questioning.