Beit Hadassah settlement, Hebron city center: Israeli teenage settlers attack Palestinian home and passersby with stones, pour water on passersby and steal bicycle, all in front of soldiers
21 October 2022
On Friday, 21 October 2022, at around 6:30 P.M., about five teenaged Israeli settlers climbed onto the roof of the Beit Hadassah settlement in the city center of Hebron and attacked the neighboring home of the Abu Hayah family with stones, in full view of a soldier at a nearby observation post. They also threw stones at Palestinians passing along the street below. Three other soldiers went up to the roof and joined in, throwing stun grenades at the passersby. After some time, other soldiers arrived and removed the settlers.
The next day, at around 3:00 P.M., about four teenage settlers again went up to the roof. They poured water on Palestinians passing along the street below and spat on them, again in full view of a soldier at the observation post. Later that night, at around 10:00 P.M., two settlers in their twenties crept into the Abu Hayahs’ courtyard and stole a bicycle. When Nirmin and Mahmoud Abu Hayah noticed the two fleeing with the bicycle, they alerted the soldier at the post. He called out to the settlers, who kept on running with the bicycle, and he summoned the police. The officer who arrived suggested the couple file a complaint at the police station, but they chose not to, knowing nothing would come out of it.
Nirmin Abu Hayah, a 41-year-old mother of five from central Hebron, spoke about the incident in a testimony she gave B’Tselem field researcher Manal al-Ja’bari on 23 October 2022:
Ever since the Jewish holidays started in early October, we’ve been suffering from settler attacks almost every day. They threw stones at our house and broke several windows, in front of soldiers who stood at the observation post and did nothing. We’ve filed complaints with the Israeli police about settler attacks in the past, but it’s no use.
On Friday, 21 October 2022, at around 6:30 P.M., I was working at home when I heard stones hitting the walls. I looked out the window and saw about five settler children throwing stones at our house and at passersby. My husband Mahmoud (44) started filming what was going on, and I shouted to the soldier who was at the observation post across from us to stop them, but he ignored me and the settlers kept on throwing stones. Three more soldiers arrived, and not only did they not stop the settlers, but they started throwing stun grenades at people on the street. I yelled at the settlers to stop and at the soldiers to stop them and call the police, but the soldiers yelled at me to close the window, and one of them swore at me. Mahmoud got angry and swore back at him. The settlers kept on throwing stones for about half an hour. In the end, some more soldiers came and one of them, who was masked, got the settlers away from the roof.
Yesterday, at around 3:00 P.M., four settler kids poured water from the rooftop on people passing along the street, and the soldier in the tower stood there and watched them. At night, at around 10:00 P.M., when our daughter Nadin (20) arrived with a cake for my birthday, two settlers stole a bicycle from our yard. We saw them taking off with the bike and shouted to the soldier at the observation point. He shouted at the settlers, but they kept running with the bike. We told the soldier off and in the end, he called the police, who arrived a few minutes later and suggested that my husband file a complaint at the police station. Mahmoud didn’t go, because we’ve already filed many complaints, to no avail. They made us wait for hours at the station every time, and sometimes they didn’t even let us file the complaint in the end.
- Damage to property (nonagricultural)