Ambulance
Ambulance. (photo credit:TAZPIT)

 

Three people were injured in Jerusalem on Sunday night when their car was pelted with stones, causing the driver to lose control and hit an electricity pole, police said. The incident took place near Asher Weiner Street in the capital’s Arnona neighborhood.

The injured, one who was seriously hurt and two others who suffered light injuries, were transported to hospital by MDA paramedics.

Police were searching the area for suspects.

The incident came as the debate over penalties for stone-throwers was heating up. Channel 2 television reported on Saturday that Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan was readying a proposal whereby judges that do not sufficiently punish stone-throwing Palestinians would be denied promotion.

Supreme Court President Miriam Naor responded on Sunday, accusing Erdan of encroaching on the independence of Israel’s judicial branch while attempting to violate “the principle of a judge’s personal independence, which is a central tenet of a democratic regime.”

Naor wrote that “if the executive branch believes that a punishment handed down by the court is too lenient, the appropriate manner in which to oppose it is to appeal.”

“The plan attributed to Minister Erdan is more befitting of countries that we do not want to resemble, and not to our country as a Jewish and democratic state,” she wrote.

According to Channel 2, Erdan plans to meet with Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, who also heads the Judicial Appointments Committee. The two will discuss what Erdan says are 30 verdicts from court cases that he believes represent the appropriate punitive threshold.

As reported by The Jerusalem Post