
 
 
Prime Minister  Binyamin Netanyahu expressed his shock and concern Saturday night in response to  the lynching of a 59-year-old Jewish man at the Tel Baruch beach Friday night by  a gang of intoxicated young Arab men from the village of Jaljulya. A 17-year-old  girl from Kfar Saba and a 19-year-old female from Petach Tikvah were with the  gang.
The prime minister told Public Security Minister Yitzchak  Aharonvitch that he was "shocked and worried" by the recent surge in murders  around the country. Seven people have been murdered in the past two weeks,  including two in a homosexual club two weeks ago.
Netanyahu told  Aharonovitch Saturday night that he expects zero tolerance for gang activity  such as the murder of Leonard "Arik" Karp. The prime minister also instructed  the public security minister to expedite probes of the murder and bring the  perpetrators to justice as quickly as possible.
"The cruel violence we  have seen in recent days has no place in a civilized society in general, and in  Israel specifically," Aharonvitch agreed. "It is inconceivable that an innocent  person could be strolling with his family and be beaten to death by a group of  thugs."
The minister praised police for their quick arrest of suspects.  He also said the cooperation of all government offices is needed in order to  confront such violent crimes.
Evening at  Beach Turns Into Nightmare
The small family was sitting on the bench  at the northern Tel Aviv shore, when the gang of young men, all around 20 years  old, strolled past. The Arabs made a comment about Leonard "Arik" Karp's  25-year-old daughter, and the father answered in kind.
Within moments, a  verbal attack quickly became a lynching. 
The mother and daughter fled,  with some of the young men chasing and beating them. The other members of the  gang focused their attack on the father.
The daughter managed to put a  call through to police; she and her mother sustained light injuries. Although  police say they arrived in less than five minutes, by the time they arrived and  mother and daughter had returned to look for Karp, he had disappeared.  
"We operated forces to locate the missing man, and at the same time  located the suspects," Police Commander David Gez said. 
A trail of blood  seemed to indicate that Karp had tried to escape the vicious gang, but to no  avail. His badly beaten body was later found floating in the water near the  Israel Electric Corporation building.  It was taken to Abu Kabir Forensic  Institute for examination.
Police rounded up 10 suspects, thanks in  part to a tip called in by the 17-year-old girl who had been with the gang.  Several of the suspects were caught in the nearby Horashim Forest, still drunk.  The girl, who allegedly confessed and led police to the site of the  attack, reportedly told them that she had tried to stop the beating, but had  been slapped by one of the drunken Arabs for her efforts. Her attorney later  said that any confession she had made was invalid, inasmuch as it had been  obtained by police without allowing her benefit of legal representation prior to  questioning.
Police said they would seek a gag order to prevent the media  from publishing photos of the suspects in order not to compromise any future  witness identification process