JERUSALEM (EJP/AFP) --- Five Jewish teenagers were arrested on suspicion of having attacked an Arab youth in downtown Jerusalem.

28 year-old victim Ibrahim Abu Ta’ah, a resident of the Wadi Joz district of East Jerusalem, was on his way home from a nightclub in Talpiyot with two Jewish friends when he was attacked on Thursday night at around midnight.

As the friends passed a group of approximately six or seven teenagers on the street, Abu Ta’ah alleges they heard his Arabic name, causing them to launch the assault, beating his leg with a metal rod and punching them with bare fists. The victim was transferred to Shaare Tzedek hospital, where he received treatment for a broken leg.

The suspects apparently fled after one of the Abu Ta’ah’s co-workers called the police. On questioning, the first three suspects told police they had though “the Arab was abusing the Jewish girl”.

All five suspects appeared in a Jerusalem court on Sunday.

The incident took place precisely three weeks after an attack on 17 year-old Palestinian Jamal Julani in Jerusalem, which has been widely condemned by both Jewish and Arab Israeli communities.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu  described the lynching as an act of “racism and violence” not to be tolerated by Israel.

Nine Israelis, eight of whom minors, were charged with injuring the teen from East Jerusalem on the night of August 16. The group, which includes one female, are all being tried on charges of incitement to racism; incitement to violence and aggravated and racially-motivated assault.