Haifa District Court judge Justice Ron Shapira has ordered that five of the six suspects in a brutal beating of two IDF soldiers be released to house arrest. The six are accused of beating the two soldiers with metal rods and stones while shouting anti-Jewish curses at them in an attack a second judge deemed reminiscent of the lynch of IDF soldiers in Ramallah.
Before assaulting the soldiers, the Arab attackers asked if they were Jewish. When they answered in the affirmative, several Arabs began beating them simultaneously.
Justice Shapira declared that the attack was motivated not by anti-Israeli sentiment, but rather, by simple mistaken identity. The attackers’ use of the word “Jew” was part of the mistake, he said.
There is no evidence that the Arab attackers realized that the two victims were IDF soldiers on leave, Shapira stated.
He called to release the suspects to house arrest in order to allow them to return to school under supervision. Four of the suspects are minors.
The two soldiers both suffered several injuries in the attack. They were treated at Rambam hospital.
Both have testified to the anti-Semitic nature of the attack, and have stated that they believe they would have been murdered if not for the appearance of hospital security guards, who ended the assault.