Israeli minors charged with robbing, beating African migrants in Tel Aviv

Charges were brought against the 11 youths for carrying out a string of attacks in Tel Aviv using iron chains, boards and other weapons over the past month.

Haaretz

The Tel Aviv district prosecutor brought charges on Thursday against a group of minors who are accused of organizing and carrying out a series of attacks againt Sudanese and Eritrean migrants in Tel Aviv.

According to the charges, the members of the gang attacked migrants using different weapons, and robbed them in some instances. The indictment is against 10 minors over racially-motivated attacks, and a further female minor is named over property offenses.

The attacks were carried out last month, reportedly with the aim of avenging attacks that had been publicized recently in the Israeli media.

Three of the instances described in the indictment took place near Hatikva market in south Tel Aviv. The gang attacked African migrants with boards and clubs, and in two of the incidents, the minors stole bicycles from the victims.

In another incident that also took place in the Hatikva neighborhood, the group attacked an Eritrean migrant with boards, stones, and iron chains, and beat him on the head and body. The victim required hospital treatment after the attack. Another victim was beaten with a motorcycle helmet, a golf club, and a metal chain near a park in the same neighborhood.

Some of the eleven youths are also charged with breaking into the shop of a migrant, from which they stole goods worth some NIS 2,000. Some of the minors also stole a cash register from another shop they brok into.

Last week, Tel Aviv Police arrested the minors and at least two adults on suspicion of carrying out the attacks.

An Israeli citizen of Ethiopian origin was assaulted on Wednesday evening in Tel Aviv during a demonstration calling for the deportation of African migrants, just a week following the violent protest in the Hatikva neighborhood, as dozens of protesters gathered on Wednesday near the central bus station in south Tel Aviv demanding the deportation of African migrants from Israel.

The protest followed an anti-migrant demonstration that turned violent last week, with some 1,000 protesters in Tel Aviv’s Hatikva neighborhood calling for the ousting of African asylum seekers from Israel. Demonstrators attacked African passersby while others lit garbage cans on fire and smashed car windows.