Police Arrest Suspect In Tel Aviv Assault On Yeshiva Student, Suspect Claims Post-Trauma

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Police have submitted an indictment for assault against a 26-year-old Pardes Chana resident who attacked Levi Bloi, a Chabad yeshiva student who was on his way to a Tefillin stand in Tel Aviv last Friday.

"פתאום הוא מופיע מולי, מטיח אותי לרצפה, ממלמל משהו לא ברור וממשיך בדרכו"

לוי בלוי, הנער החרדי שהותקף ברחובות תל אביב ל@tuchfeld: "אני יוצא כל יום שישי להניח תפילין, מעולם לא נפגשתי בדבר כזה. הלכנו ברחוב פתאום הוא מופיע מולי, מטיח אותי לריצפה, ממלמל משהו לא ברור, וממשיך בדרכו >> pic.twitter.com/dw45vvZ3i1

— גלי ישראל (@IsraelGaley) September 5, 2022

Police opened an investigation after receiving a complaint about the unprovoked attack, which occurred while Bloi was walking in the street. The suspect went up to him and knocked him to the ground, leaving the scene without attempting to assist him.

After an intensive manhunt, police identified the man and arrested him near his home in Pardes Chana. He was brought to the Tel Aviv Magistrates Court and police are requesting that he be detained until the end of legal proceedings.

The police investigation has concluded that the assault was criminal in nature and that the student was not attacked specifically because he was chareidi as claimed in recent days. The suspect allegedly does not seem completely sane and may be sent for psychiatric evaluation. During the investigation he claimed that he was suffering from post trauma. “I was sure they tried to attack me, that is why I responded in this way. I didn’t want to harm him and didn’t have any such intention. It wasn’t because he was chareidi. I didn’t mean it, I apologize,” he said.

A police statement said that “a complaint was received and is being verified. A Jewish suspect has been arrested and take for investigation. The background is criminal and not nationalistic.”