"I am afraid to leave the house": 76-year-old woman attacked in Ashkelon tells of her ordeal
A 76-year-old woman reports being attacked while resting on a street bench, noting that passersby failed to assist her. After two days of hospitalization, she remains fearful of going out alone: "I was lying there bleeding, and no one stopped."
Alina Levin, 76, from Ashkelon, says she was violently attacked while resting on a street bench. She suffered injuries to her hand and leg, requiring two days of hospitalization. During a subsequent police lineup, she was unable to identify the suspect who had been arrested. Since the incident, she has been afraid to leave her home alone, claiming that passersby ignored her pleas for help during the attack. Her family notes that her husband was also attacked in the same neighborhood years ago, resulting in the loss of his eye.
"I was sitting on the bench to rest and was talking on the phone with a friend. A man sat down next to me. I decided to get up and leave, but he followed me. When I stopped, he approached and said in Russian: 'Give me money' and 'Give me back money.'"
Levin says that after she replied that she did not understand his demands, the man struck her forcefully in the ear. "I fell to the ground and shouted to my friend, who was still on the line, to call the police. While I was lying there, he leaned over to grab my mobile phone, but apparently got scared by the shouts of 'police' and fled the scene."
Failed identification
Following the fall, Levin was hospitalized for two days. While in the ambulance, she heard that police had arrested a suspect in connection with a violent incident nearby.
"I asked them to show him to me, as not much time had passed," she recounted. "They told me not to worry and that there were cameras in the area. At the hospital, they took my testimony several times." Later, at the police station, she was unable to identify the arrested individual as her attacker. "I asked the investigator how they knew this was the person who harmed me, but they just told me not to worry," she said.
"I no longer walk alone in the dark"
Since the attack, Levin’s life has changed: "I am still not well, both physically and mentally. I no longer walk alone when it gets dark; I am suspicious of everyone and have lost trust in people. It is terrifying to think the attacker is still free."
She described the reaction of passersby as one of the most traumatic aspects: "I was lying on the road, bleeding and begging for help. A cyclist with two children passed by, and I asked him to help me up, but he just kept riding, almost running me over. What has become of us?"
Levin noted that this is not the first time her family has faced violence in the area. "My husband was attacked in the same neighborhood a few years ago. He was hit on the head with a stick, lost an eye, and has lived with a prosthetic ever since. They never found the attacker. How is it possible that in a central area, near the bus station and the mall, there is no footage to help catch the perpetrator?"
Her daughter, Tanya, added: "My mother is afraid to be seen because she fears being harmed again. It is heartbreaking to see more and more attacks on helpless elderly people."
