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Israeli Ambassador finds it difficult to explain criminal beating of Chilean In Jerusalem
By Nir Hasson/Dustin Zarnikow
Haaretz/The Santiago Times
11 November 2010
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/gang-suspected-of-attacks-on-arabs-in-jerusalem-1.324050
http://www.santiagotimes.cl/news/other/20167-israeli-ambassador-explains-criminal-beating-of-chilean-in-jerusalem


Man’s “Arab-like” appearance thought to have provoked the attack

The [Chilean] Foreign Ministry this week asked Israeli Ambassador to Chile David Dadonn to comment on the beating of a Chilean man in Jerusalem over the weekend, leaving him hospitalized for five days.

Eight teenagers jumped the man, Jose Toledo Dumenes, while he was walking through Independence Park in Israel after a wedding, brutally beating and kicking him until police arrived and arrested all eight of them.

Dumenes, 43-year-old engineer working on his Ph.D. in Spain, said he was aware he had some Arab features, which has been posited as a possible motive for the attackers, five of whom were Jewish settlers in the area. `I`ve been told I look like an Arab, but I never thought it would nearly cost me my life,` Dumenes said. The beating left Dumenes with an intracranial (skull) hemorrhage and bleeding in both eyes.

Still, Ambassador Dadonn insisted that there was “no basis” for accusations regarding racist motives behind the attack.


`To accuse Israel of racial discrimination is very serious and has no basis,” Dadonn said. “It is a known fact that half of the Israeli population has Arab features.` Other possible motives might be drug influence or drunkenness.

Dadonn met with Carlos Klammer, director general of consular affairs and immigration, to discuss the incident and ongoing investigation, but declined to comment on the details of the meeting.

Chile’s Jewish community condemned the attack, saying certain sectors seek to exploit the country’s situation politically.


Dumenes remains skeptical, only remembering some details because he slipped in and out of consciousness during the beating.

`There are several theories – that I look Jewish, that I look Arabic – many things, I don`t know,” he said. “It didn`t seem to me that there had been any drugs, nor drunkenness or anything else. They spoke to me in a strong, sure tone and tried to jump me.`

A.K.
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