Israel Police and the Shin Bet announced on Thursday that they have cracked the case of an attempted lynching of a Jewish family that accidentally entered their village. The attack took place on May 13, at the height of anti-Semitic riots by Israeli Arabs across the country.
The suspects, residents of the village of Zalafa, about 2 miles northeast of the town of Umm al-Fahm, were arrested on suspicion that on May 13 they identified the Jewish family’s vehicle in their village after the family had driven there by mistake due to the blocking of the Megiddo junction on Route 65. The suspects had been waiting on the main road for Jews to stray into their village when the junction was blocked, and when they identified the Jewish-owned vehicle they began throwing stones at them and shouting “Jews, Jews.”
The father of the family, who realized that his and his family’s lives were in danger, began to flee into the village with the suspects chasing close behind. After a long race, when the vehicle reached Umm al-Fahm, the suspects blocked the Jewish vehicle’s path and began throwing stones at them and hitting the vehicle with bats. The family’s dog was stolen during the attack and was located several hours later by police detectives at the local station.
The lynching attempt continued until the family was rescued by local Arabs, residents of Umm al-Fahm, who helped them reach the local clinic, and from there they were evacuated with a police escort to the Emek Medical Center in Afula.
The suspects have been remanded to prison several times since their arrest, and Thursday morning, following the joint investigation by the police and the Shin Bet, an indictment was filed in the Haifa District Court against them.