Jerusalem police (illustration)
Jerusalem police (illustration)Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90

Two Arab residents of Jerusalem were arrested earlier this week, on suspicion they assaulted two haredi youths over the weekend.

The victims, both haredi residents of the capital, filed a police report Sunday after they say they were assaulted by two Arab men near the City of David, outside of the Old City of Jerusalem.

The incident occurred early Saturday morning, police reported, as the two men made their way to the Shiloach Pool near the historic City of David in the Shiloach (Silwan) neighborhood of eastern Jerusalem.

En route, the two haredi men were accosted by a pair of local Arabs who blocked their path, shoved them, and began to curse them.

The assailants then beat the two haredi men, before fleeing the scene.

On Sunday, the two victims reported the incident to police, who opened an investigation into the assault.

By early Monday morning, two suspects, ages 18 and 19, had been taken into custody. The suspects were interrogated at the Shalem police station, and were later brought before a Jerusalem court which extended their arrests.

“Within hours of the filing of the complaint,” a police spokesperson said, “the suspects were located, arrested, and brought in for interrogation. The police will use all the methods at its disposal to bring the [assailants] to justice.”