Employees of the “Collection Department” assault Jihad Shweiki
The employees of the “Israeli Collection Department” assaulted on Thursday morning the 42-year old Jihad Mahmoud Mohammad Shweiki and severely beat him after breaking into his house in the neighborhood of Al-Thori in Silwan. Jihad explained that the armed employees broke into his house to execute the municipality’s order of confiscating his furniture under the pretext of “accumulation of unpaid property tax (Arnona) which reached 50 thousand NIS. He explained that the four employees threatened to confiscate his furniture and then assaulted him with pushing and beating. The altercation escalated to clashes using hands which terrified his wife and his three children. He said: “the neighbors called the police to the house that made the collection employees leave and arrested us to the police station in Jabal Al-Mukabber where I was interrogated regarding the assault. While I was at the station, the police called the collection department and their lawyer talked to me and asked me to check with them within a week; he threatened to break into the house again.” Jihad pointed out that the property tax accumulated because he was arrested 17 times and spent two and a half years inside the Israeli prison. He also noted that he hasn’t worked in four years and his living conditions are very bad. Shweiki explained that the collection department confiscated all of his house’s furniture 8 months ago including the electronics due to accumulation of unpaid debt.
