Video shows moment masked attacker beats Rabbi Arik Asherman while brandishing a knife in West Bank. The armed extremist next motions for a cameraman filming the incident, yet Ascherman interjects.
Advertisement
The settler accosted Ascherman and threatened him with the knife as Ascherman and other members of human rights groups stood guard over Palestinian farmers so they could harvest their olives without being assaulted by Jewish settlers – a common occurrence police rarely do anything about. Within seconds the settler kicks and hits Ascherman, briefly throwing the rabbi into a chokehold while extending the blade towards his neck.
Ascherman was part of a group of left-wing activists that accompanied Palestinian villagers to their fields to harvest olives.
This morning Israeli security forces were on site while Palestinians gathered their crops, keeping a group of settlers at bay.
Ascherman says he and a Palestinian farmer returned from harvesting olives at a further out grove and saw a Jewish settler trying to steal olives from the grove closer to the Palestinian’s home.
“The activist ran toward him [Ascherman] in a threatening way with a drawn knife”, a spokesman for Rabbis for Human Rights said.
Ascherman said he then confronted the Israeli and attempted to put out the fire. Two years ago a 70-year old volunteer was assaulted by settlers with clubs and stones in the same region of the West Bank.
On its Twitter account, Rabbis for Human Rights said the attack was unprovoked and had happened on Palestinian-administered land and not in Itamar, a nearby illegal Israeli settlement.
Advertisement
A police spokesperson responded to the attack on Friday by blaming the incident on a provocation by “left-wing activists and anarchists”. “These people are hurting the image of Israel”.
