In May 2021, Ephraim Shachor was driving in his car on the Ofel highway near the Lions’ Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem, when dozens of Arabs emerged and began hurling stones at him and his two passengers.
“The terrorists opened the doors and continued to beat us,” Shachor recalled at the time. After being hit with stones at point blank, Shachor tried to drive in reverse to escape but the lynch mob prevented him from escaping the scene.
בימ”ש השלום בירושלים, הרשיע בעבירת מעשה טרור את המחבל מוחמד קוטוב, שלקח חלק באירוע הלינץ’ בשער האריות והביא לפציעתם של שלושה יהודים pic.twitter.com/kKfEmLCk1E
— Michael Philipsborn (@Michael02102105) June 19, 2024
One of the terrorists opened the car door and sprayed the driver and passengers with pepper spray. As a result of the stones and pepper spray attack, the driver injured his head and lost control of the vehicle, which led to the vehicle swerving into a low cement wall on the side of the road and running over one attacker. A police officer arrived at the scene, fired a warning shot in the air, and helped the driver and his passengers get out of the car.
תיעוד מנסיון הלינץ’ בשער האריות שלב אחרי שלב ממצלמות האבטחה.
?חדשות בסטטוס 0533-123-134 pic.twitter.com/ApqhxJeKmh— חדשות בסטטוס (@StatusNewsIL) May 10, 2021
At the time, Jerusalem Police searched for the rioter who had been rammed by Shachor’s car as the latter was desperately attempting to escape a lynching but eventually gave up the search. And then Muhammad Kutob, 21, a resident of eastern Jerusalem, filed a compensation claim against the driver who was attacked in the lynching.
Shachor contacted the Honenu legal aid society and his lawyers, Menashe Yado and Haim Bleicher, proved to the court that the plaintiff was the rioter who participated in the lynching. The court rejected the terrorist’s claim and proceeded to hear the complaint against the terrorist, which had already been filed by Shachor with the police.
The police verified Kutob’s identity, arrested him, and compiled the evidence for an indictment which was filed by the prosecutor’s office. A week ago, the Jerusalem District Court sentenced Kutob to 40 months in prison and ordered him to pay compensation to the occupants of the car who were injured in the lynching.
District Court Judge Pnina Neuwirth stated in her sentencing that “in his aforementioned actions, the accused injured the complainants, together with others, to inflict a disability or mutilation or cause serious injury, all from a nationalist-ideological motive, to incite fear or panic in the public. His act involved a real risk of serious injury to body or property.”
Yes, well, look at Shachor’s car…
