Three Young Men Charged with Violent Robbery and Kidnapping in Haifa

The Haifa District Prosecutor's Office has filed charges against three young men from Bat Yam, Haifa, and Kiryat Yam for a violent robbery and kidnapping incident involving two other young men. The attack took place on June 5 in an apartment in Haifa, where the victims were assaulted with punches and kicks, threatened with a knife, and one was sprayed with tear gas after refusing to hand over his phone. The accused, Leon Tsibulansky, David Varva, and Daniel Afonin, allegedly forced the victims to provide access codes to their phones, which they used to check bank applications and discovered 1,200 shekels in one victim's account.

Following this, the assailants compelled the victims to walk nearly two kilometers to a bank ATM on Sderot HaNasi in Haifa under threats of death, instructing them to pretend to be friends. The attackers threatened severe violence, including cutting their faces and removing fingers, and forced the victims to clean blood from their faces, change bloodstained shirts, and wear masks to conceal injuries. After withdrawing the money, the perpetrators discarded the victims' phones over a fence and fled.

The indictment includes charges of aggravated robbery, kidnapping, extortion by force and threats, and assault causing serious injury. The victims suffered bruises, cuts, and one required medical treatment. The prosecution highlighted the severity of the violence and the calculated nature of the crime, which involved intimidation and physical harm to extract money.