An Arab-Israeli man who was convicted of carrying out a nationalistically motivated assault against a Jewish resident in Jerusalem is now receiving state-funded legal representation through the Justice Ministry.

According to a report by the Honenu legal aid representation, the incident occurred in Jerusalem’s Old City in 2021, when an Arab assaulted a Jewish man walking through the area. The assailant was later arrested, convicted of assault motivated by nationalism, and sentenced to 100 hours of community service along with compensation of 1,500 shekels to the victim.

Following the conviction, Attorney Chaim Bleicher from Honenu filed a civil lawsuit against the Arab. After the lawsuit was submitted, it emerged that the Justice Ministry’s legal aid department — intended to assist individuals unable to afford legal representation — was funding the Arab’s legal defense.

Bleicher sent a letter to the legal aid unit, demanding that the funding be revoked and slamming the absurd situation in which the attacker, rather than the victim, receives state assistance.

“The defendant was convicted in criminal proceedings of assault motivated by racism or hostility toward a public group after violently attacking the victim solely because he was Jewish,” Bleicher wrote. “Therefore, I was astonished to discover that the attacker is being represented by the Justice Ministry’s legal aid unit.”

“To illustrate the absurdity: with one hand, the state seeks to encourage victims of nationalist or racist crimes to file civil lawsuits by granting them full exemption from court fees — while with the other hand, the state finances legal representation for a despicable attacker who assaulted a Jew solely for being Jewish.”

“It is inconceivable that a nationalistically motivated attacker receives such assistance at taxpayers’ expense,” he wrote. “In other cases, your unit represents victims of terror, racism, or violence  — but here, astonishingly, your unit is representing the assailant.”

“A rioter who attacks a Jew or a loyal Israeli citizen for racist or nationalist reasons acts out of a desire to harm the State of Israel and identification with its enemies. The state enacted laws and regulations to help victims sue such attackers. It is inconceivable that the state and its citizens fund the civil defense for that same assailant. This may be a mistake or fraud, and we expect this absurdity to be corrected.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)