The Indianapolis woman accused of plowing her car into what she thought was a Jewish school was suffering from a drug-induced “episode” and has no recollection of the antisemitic attack, her attorney claims.
Ruba Almaghtheh, 34, was under the influence of several drugs when he allegedly backed his vehicle into a building associated with Black Hebrew Israelis late Friday while shouting “Free Palestine,” his lawyer, Gary Colasessano, told The Associated Press.
The lawyer claimed that Almaghtheh, a Muslim from Jordan, had been taking various drugs for physical disabilities and mental stress due to a pending divorce while caring for her three children.
But Almaghtheh allegedly admitted he was inspired to crash into Israel’s School of Universal and Practical Knowledge in protest of Israel’s relentless counter-offensive in Gaza which has left more than 10,000 Palestinians dead.
The “Hebrew of Israel” school has a symbol resembling the Star of David on its facade.
He told officers at the scene that he had been watching TV coverage of the war in the Middle East “and decided to plan the attack by crashing into the building on purpose because he observed a symbol located in the residence he committed a great crime and associated it with an Israeli school,” according to the affidavit. arrest.
Ruba Almaghtheh does not remember backing his car into the Israel School of Universal and Practical Knowledge, his lawyer claims. IMPD
“Yes. I did it on purpose,” Almaghtheh allegedly said after his arrest.
He repeatedly described the building as an “Israeli school.” Police also said the driver was referring to “his people in Palestine.”
Witnesses told investigators he made the same comment to them after they saw him intentionally put his car in reverse and back into the building, causing an estimated $10,000 worth of damage, the document said.
The Israel School of Universal and Practical Knowledge is an Israeli Black Hebrew sect, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Almaghtheh allegedly broke into the building after being overwhelmed by “a barrage of news about the war in Gaza.” FOX59
It is also listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a “Radical Hebrew” group and is considered by the law center to be a “hate group” whose ideology has grown increasingly antisemitic, anti-white, anti-LGBTQ, xenophobic and misogynistic since the 1960s.
Almaghtheh, dubbed a “terrorist” by police, has no prior criminal record and targeted the building only after being overwhelmed by “the constant news about the war in Gaza,” his lawyer said.
Just a week earlier, she filed for divorce against her husband who allegedly left her and moved to Africa, according to court records.
The Israel School of Universal and Practical Knowledge has an “Israeli Hebrew” symbol resembling the Star of David on its facade.FOX59
Colasessano claimed his client was also under a doctor’s care for several physical ailments that caused his physical pain.
Almaghtheh was ordered by a judge during his initial court hearing on Wednesday to stay away from synagogues and other Jewish religious and cultural centers.
He faces charges of intimidation, criminal recklessness and institutional criminal mischief, all felonies, to all of which he has pleaded not guilty.
Almaghtheh allegedly confessed to intentionally crashing into the building. FOX59
His bond was set at $200,000, the unusually high amount prosecutors sought in a motion alleging Almaghtheh “intentionally crashed his vehicle into a building he believed was home to a religious or cultural center that supported Israel.”
“The allegations in the probable cause affidavit are very worrying. We cannot and will not tolerate hate in our community,” Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears said Wednesday in a statement.
By Postal Wire
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
