The Jerusalem Magistrates Court registrar, Shai Tzarfati, has ruled that Omar Rani Yassin, convicted of attacking a Jewish family in the Beit Hanina neighborhood of Jerusalem several years ago, must pay the victims NIS 440,000 in compensation, as part of a civil lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit filed by Attorney Chaim Bleicher of the Honenu legal organization, the attack occurred when the Jewish family drove through Beit Hanina. Yassin, motivated by anti-Jewish hatred, violently assaulted them. He kicked the car’s windshield with force, shattering it. Glass shards injured the father in his neck and hand, causing him to lose consciousness for a short time. The mother, who was driving, managed to continue despite being in shock, while their three children in the backseat experienced terror and trauma from witnessing their father’s injury.
Initially, the indictment was filed without reference to a racist motive. However, Judge Elazar Bialin of the Jerusalem Magistrates Court made it clear in his ruling that the assault was carried out against the family because they were Jewish. He rejected a lenient plea bargain with the attacker and imposed a harsher sentence.
Despite this, the attacker appealed to the District Court, backed by the State Prosecutor’s Office, which insisted on reinstating the original plea deal. Attorney Bleicher, representing the victims, opposed the appeal and demanded a harsher punishment. The District Court eventually reduced the sentence but increased compensation requirements, adding prison time and financial liability.
The family later filed a civil lawsuit seeking NIS 440,000, including damages for pain, suffering, emotional distress, and punitive compensation of NIS 150,000. Since the attacker failed to file a defense within the required timeframe, Registrar Tzarfati ruled in favor of the family in full, ordering him to pay the complete amount along with an additional NIS 29,504 in legal fees.
Attorney Bleicher stated after the ruling: “Attacking a Jewish family is an antisemitic act of terror that gravely undermines the security of Israeli citizens. For reasons that remain unclear, the indictment failed to reflect his terrorist motive, creating an absurd outcome. Judge Bialin deserves credit for resisting that failure. Unfortunately, due to prosecutorial shortcomings, the criminal process did not fully deliver justice. We therefore pursued the civil track to ensure the attacker pays a heavy price and to deter others like him.”