"People were watching as if it were a show, I was alone": Testimony of the friend who tried to save the late Yamano Zelke
Alon reconstructed the moments of his friend Benjamin Yamano Zelke's murder. He described the indifference of the bystanders who watched the lynching and expressed his outrage over the release of some suspects from custody.
Alon Sterlevitzky, the best friend of Benjamin Yamano Zelke (of blessed memory), has been struggling to recover since the night his friend was murdered before his eyes. On Monday, during the main news edition, he reconstructed the moments when he tried to save Zelke from a lynching carried out by a group of teenagers. Alon was the only one among dozens of bystanders who tried to intervene and fight for his friend's life, while others stood by.
The event began a few hours before the murder, following an argument over the use of snow spray. Alon tried to calm the situation and even offered apologies to the attackers, who threatened to take Zelke to a place without cameras. After leaving the scene, the teenagers returned with reinforcements and surrounded the branch.
"I really tried to understand what they wanted," Alon said. "It's not like we stole money from you, it's just snow spray."
When the attackers began beating Zelke, Alon tried to push them away. "I saw my friend getting beaten, I said to myself that I would take those beatings with him," Alon described. Within seconds, he saw his friend lying on the floor with critical injuries.
"I just asked him to get up, because I had optimism that suddenly he would get up and everything would be fine." While Zelke was bleeding to death on the floor, dozens of teenagers and other people watched what was happening. Alon described a difficult feeling of helplessness in front of a crowd that did not reach out a hand.
"I was alone. The people here on the side were watching as if it were a show," he noted.
When rescue forces arrived, all the teenagers had already dispersed, and Alon was left alone next to his critically injured friend, who later passed away in the hospital.
Two weeks after the incident, an indictment was filed. Only one of the defendants is charged with murder with indifference, while the others are charged with aggravated assault. The release of some suspects from custody has caused great anger among Zelke's family and friends, who fear that the defendants' young age will lead to a significant reduction in their sentences.
Alon and Zelke's family demand that the legal system treat the defendants as adults in every respect. "In my opinion, it's a shame," Alon said regarding the release of those involved. "If that stabber knows how to stab like a big kid, he should also sit in prison like a big kid. Everyone should absorb this punishment not as minors."
