Palestinian charged with beach rape of 21-year-old woman in Bat Yam

A Palestinian resident of Hebron was charged Thursday with the rape of a 21-year-old woman on a beach in Bat Yam last month.

The prosecution alleged that Adi Tamiza, also 21, attempted to strike up a conversation with the victim at 11:30 p.m. as she sat alone at a beach in the Tel Aviv suburb.

After the girl rejected Tamiza’s approach, the accused, who was accompanied by another man, told the latter to leave, before allegedly grabbing the victim as she stood up to walk home.

The prosecution said that Tamiza forcefully led the girl north toward Jaffa, telling her, “Come with me, let’s go for a stroll.”

Despite her protests, Tamiza lifted the girl up and carried her to a hill near the beach. The accused allegedly forcibly stripped the victim as she unsuccessfully fought to escape the attack.

The prosecution said that Tamiza, who had entered Bat Yam from the West Bank on a valid permit, removed the victim’s phone as she tried to call for help.

Following the alleged rape, Tamiza returned the victim’s phone on the condition that she give him her phone number, before apparently telling her in Arabic that he loved her.

Tamiza was arrested at a checkpoint as he attempted to cross back into Hebron.

During legal proceedings at the Tel Aviv District Court, the prosecution described Tamiza as “a person who poses a great danger to the female public in Israel, taking advantage of a residency permit granted to him for work purposes to commit a cruel act of sodomy in the dead of night against a victim whose very ‘crime’ was sitting at the beach at night.”

The prosecution described the incident as doing “serious damage” to women’s sense of security.