Itamar Ben Gvir
Itamar Ben GvirItamar Ben Gvir

The Jerusalem Magistrates’ Court has rejected a request from police to keep a high school student in jail after he came under suspicion in an attack. Police argued that if the student were released, he could tamper with evidence.

The student is one of multiple Jewish teens arrested after a Jewish boy threw rocks at an Arab teacher two weeks ago in Jerusalem.

Attorney Itamar Ben-Gvir accused the Jerusalem Police of being motivated solely by a desire to appeal to the media. “There is no logic in arresting a suspect two weeks after the alleged offense and then requesting a remand because he might tamper with the investigation,” he said.

The court agreed that the request was not justified, and noted that if the suspect had the desire and ability to interfere with the investigation, he could have done so in the two weeks that had passed between the attack and his arrest.

The court also accepted Ben-Gvir’s argument that police are not accusing the youth of racist assault, which is a more serious charge than regular assault.

The detainee will remain in custody until Tuesday evening and then will be released to house arrest.

The attack in Jerusalem's Kiryat Moshe was condemned by religious-Zionist leaders. MK Uri Orbach of the Bayit Yehudi responded to the incident with a reminder that Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook was strongly opposed to attacks on Arabs.