The 44-year-old Jewish man who was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of involvement in the stabbing death of a 27-year-old Arab will be brought before a court in Ashkelon on Thursday afternoon.
The court has imposed a gag order on all details of the investigation, which is being handled by the Nationalist Crimes Unit within the Judea & Samaria police division, along with the Shabak (General Security Service).
Prior to the hearing in Ashkelon, another hearing is set to take place at half-past-eleven in the morning in the Jerusalem District Court, to consider the petition submitted by the rights organization Honenu, which is demanding that the arrestee be permitted access to a lawyer. Thus far, access to a lawyer has been denied the man, who has no criminal record, as he is being held under an "exceptional order" that denies him meetings with an attorney. During the hearings themselves, the man will be represented by attorney Adi Keidar of Honenu, who is expected to demand his client's swift release.
The hearing in Ashkelon is set for one in the afternoon; it is taking place in Ashkelon as the arrested man is being held at a Shabak facility nearby.
"The suspect arrived at a police station in order to give testimony regarding the serious incident that occurred," attorney Keidar said. "According to our understanding, the Jews who were present were only saved by a miracle, after they came under attack by Arabs - an incident of the kind that has taken place many times over the past few months.
"It appears that the GSS and Israel Police have lost their moral compass," he added. "Instead of establishing law and order and ensuring the safety and security of Jewish citizens - when open season has been declared against them - they have arrested someone who to the best of our knowledge is innocent of any crime and was only defending the twenty children who were at the scene. We hope that the court will immediately cancel the order barring my client from access to a lawyer, and free him."
Honenu's director, Shmuel Meidad, called on the IDF to apprehend the Arab rioters whose identities can be easily ascertained from social media posts that are circulating. "It's inconceivable that a group of children came under attack near the city of Ariel and the rioters - whose actions were captured on film, and can be seen with bludgeons in their hands - are still at liberty," he said.
"Only a miracle led to the children escaping unscathed," he added, "considering that there were dozens of Arab rioters at the scene, armed with bludgeons and other weapons and threatening to attack the children. Police and the army must now apprehend the rioters, today. We have suffered enough anti-Semitism and we must not simply reconcile ourselves to it."
The video below shows the moments prior to the stabbing incident, with Arabs demanding that the Jews leave.