What are the charges against Ruba Almaghtheh? Woman's lawyer claims she rammed into Jewish building while under medication
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA: Ruba Almaghtheh, 34, stands accused of backing her car into a building associated with Black Hebrew Israelites on the night of November 3.
Almaghtheh has been charged with felony offenses of intimidation, criminal recklessness, and institutional criminal mischief, to all of which she pleaded not guilty.
Gary Colasessano, her attorney, reportedly told the Associated Press that Almaghtheh was under the influence of several medications at the time, and does not remember her action.
He explained that his client experienced an “episode,” which may have been the result of the medicinal drugs she takes for physical disabilities and the mental stress of a pending divorce while caring for her three children.
Ruba Almaghtheh allegedly admitted to being provoked to act
The Israelite School of Universal and Practical Knowledge, which Almaghtheh drove into, has a symbol resembling a Star of David on its facade, reported the New York Post.
Almaghtheh allegedly admitted she was inspired to crash into the "Hebrew Israelite" school in protest of Israel’s counterattack in Gaza after Hamas’s offensive in southern Israel on October 7
According to an arrest affidavit, the accused told the responding officers about watching television coverage of the war in the Middle East and deciding "to plan an attack by crashing into the building on purpose because she observed a symbol located on the residence that she took high offense to and related it to being an Israeli school."
Police have stated that the accused referred to “her people back in Palestine,” and repeatedly described the building she crashed into as the “Israel school.” She is even alleged to have said, "Yes. I did it on purpose,” after being arrested.
Witnesses paint a similar picture, saying that Almaghtheh deliberately put her car in reverse and back into the building while shouting “Free Palestine.”
What is the Israelite School of Universal and Practical Knowledge?
According to the Anti-Defamation League, the school is a sect of the Black Hebrew Israelites.
The Southern Poverty Law Center alleges that the organization is a “Radical Hebrew Israelites” group as well as a “hate group” whose ideology has grown increasingly antisemitic, anti-White, anti-LGBTQ, xenophobic, and misogynistic since the 1960s.
Ruba Almaghtheh does not have any criminal record
Colasessano stressed that his client targeted the building only after she was overwhelmed by “the constant barrage of news about the war in Gaza.”
Almaghtheh has been ordered by a judge to stay away from synagogues and other Jewish religious and cultural centers, and her bail is set at $200,000.
Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears stated, "The allegations in the probable cause affidavit are extremely disturbing. We cannot and will not tolerate hate in our community."