The mother promised her son that police were working on the case, even after they said they were closing the probe. 'Of course, what should I tell a nine-year-old boy?' she said. But Friday, police told her they would question him again, she said
September 26th, 01AM September 26th, 14PM
A Jewish Israeli man pepper-sprayed a 9-year-old Palestinian boy from Jerusalem's Armenian Christian community while he was riding his bicycle near Jaffa Gate on Yom Kippur.
Police said Thursday they investigated the complaint and took steps to identify the attacker, but closed the case after reviewing the evidence and pursuing all available leads. They said they could reopen the case if "new evidence or information" emerges.
The boy, whom his mother identified by the pseudonym William, was riding along Mamilla Boulevard right outside the Old City when a man in his 30s signaled for him to stop, she said. William stopped, removed his headphones and spoke to the man in English before the man sprayed him with pepper spray, according to his mother.
"This is what makes me really furious even more," the mother said. "Because he knew what he was doing and he had the pepper spray bottle in his hand, behind his back."
"William is a very, listen, he's a very polite boy. He's a very, you know, he's very, if he feels that he is actually bothering or annoying anyone, he would really apologize.
She said the man attacked her son after realizing he did not speak Hebrew. Passersby called an ambulance and the police, and the mother arrived several minutes later. She said William was screaming in pain and told her, "Mom, I felt that I'm going to die ... They want to kill me."
"I just grabbed a bottle of milk from the shop and I started putting milk on his face," she said. "He got burned. His ear, his face, his body. So I took him to the emergency to the ER at Hadassah."
After receiving treatment at the hospital, the family filed a police complaint, but no arrest was made. "The police are taking care of it," the mother promised her son, "they're looking for the guy."
"Of course, what should I tell a small boy, a nine-year-old boy?" she said. But then she was told the file had been closed, which felt like she "got slapped in the face," she recalled.
"The police are not really taking care of it. I've been telling him, day and night, they're looking for the guy," she said.
However, according to William's mother, police representatives called the family on Friday morning and said they wanted to question her son again.
William has been living in fear since the attack, his mother said. "He said, 'Mom, can you buy me this big helmet for the bike?'" she recalled. "He put it on, and he said, 'Now I feel okay to walk around.' He said, 'People will not see my face, and they will not know that I'm not Jewish.' I started crying."
It is the second time Jewish extremists have attacked the family. About two years ago, the boy's father was pepper-sprayed while William and his younger sister were with him. The girl was also sprayed in the face.
The Armenian Quarter in Jerusalem's Old City has reportedly been the site of frequent harassment, violent attacks and spitting by Jewish extremists. In the past two weeks, several incidents of spitting and attacks against Christians by Jewish teenagers on their way to the Western Wall to recite Selichot prayers have been documented.
Since July, the hotline operated by the Religious Freedom Data Center has recorded 72 attacks, acts of vandalism and incidents of spitting targeting Christians.
The vast majority of the 72 incidents recorded since July occurred in Jerusalem, with 68 cases reported in the city, most of them in and around the Old City. That compares with 31 incidents documented in 2025 and 30 in 2024, representing a sharp increase in attacks against Christians.
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