The moment of the arrest
The moment of the arrestCourtesy

Eleventh-grade students from a yeshiva high school in Mitzpe Ramon who were visiting the city of Lod came under attack by local Arab residents of the mixed-city.

The students defended themselves as best they could and then fled into a nearby synagogue after one of them was attacked with pepper spray. Police were summoned and helped the group leave the city, but failed to arrest even a single one of their attackers.

In the early hours of the next morning, however, police raided the homes of the high school's rabbi, who had been on the tour with the students, and of the tour guide. The rabbi was not at home at the time and police left a summons to appear at the Lod police station at a certain hour. The tour guide was apprehended, handcuffed as his family watched in shock, and put under arrest for allegedly causing property damage. He has since been released on bail and under restrictive conditions.

Attorney Adi Keidar of the Honenu legal aid organization lambasted police for their actions. “Students touring the city of Lod were attacked by a group of rioters from a minority group, and when the police arrived at the scene after the incident, the Jews explained to them what happened. And what did they do? In the middle of the night, they arrested a father of four, a law-abiding citizen and teacher, in front of his wife, for no reason whatsoever, and released him only later that morning after an exhaustive investigation.

"It seems the police have elected to continue their defense of violent minorities and persecution of victims. They are actively harming public safety and security," Keidar added.

Also responding to the incident was Religious Zionism party head MK Bezalel Smotrich. "Something very bad is happening to Israel Police," he said. "Again and again we hear how Jewish victims of crime are portrayed as those guilty of the offenses, in order to obtain artificial calm which will eventually explode in our faces. Now we even see them using violent means, arresting people in the middle of the night for no reason as wives and children watch in horror, and deliberately degrading people by handcuffing them in what is actually an illegal manner."