The Defense Ministry has made a precedent-setting decision to recognize a sexual assault by Arabs against a Jewish girl as an act of terror, and to grant the victim the privileges accorded to terror victims.

The attack took place in Pisgat Ze’ev, Jerusalem, in 2006, when the girl – now a woman — was 14.

The four Arabs followed the girl on their bicycles as she walked toward a bus stop. They approached her and tugged at her shirt as they laughed and joked with each other. They then blocked her way, struck her, pushed her down a slope at the side of the road, knocked her to the ground and sexually molested her. She succeeded in breaking free and escaping, and by complaining against them led to their being apprehended by police.

After a prolonged inquiry, the Ministry of Defense approved her status as a victim of terror who is eligible for stipends from the National Insurance Institute. The law defines a terror victim as a person who was “hurt by violence due to his nationality or ethnicity, in connection with the Israeli-Arab conflict.”

Police Deputy Commissioner Meni Yitzhaki confirmed, in an opinion submitted to the Defense Ministry, that it is reasonable to assume that the girl was attacked because she was Jewish, against the backdrop of the Israeli-Arab conflict. 

It remains to be seen whether the precedent will lead to additional claims for compensation being lodged by women who have been abused by hostile Arabs. Such cases are particularly rife in specific areas, including the Hebrew University’s Mount Scopus campus, where students regularly suffer at the hands of the Arabs from adjoining Isawiya. The Arabs attack their victims with firebombs and rocks, and also harass women.