Residents of the town of Al-Eizariya, located at the eastern exit of Jerusalem, are accustomed to seeing beggars in the streets asking for financial assistance. But over the past week, what appeared to be an ordinary scene of human hardship turned out to be one of the most amusing, and infuriating, scams seen in the area in recent times.
The story began when alert residents of Al-Eizariya and neighboring Abu Dis noticed a particularly strange pattern of behavior: a man and a woman dressed in rags arrived in the center of the town near Jerusalem, said goodbye to the luxury SUV from which they had stepped out, and began approaching cars and passersby to beg for money.
At the end of their “working day,” the pair returned to the vehicle, climbed inside and disappeared as quickly as they had arrived. Footage showing the unbelievable combination of begging and a luxury SUV spread rapidly across social media in East Jerusalem and also caught the watchful and astonished eyes of officers from the Palestinian Police’s “Southeast Jerusalem” station.
Video: How was the beggars’ scam near Jerusalem exposed?
The Palestinian Police, which has operated in Al-Eizariya, an Area B locality, since 2015 under special permission from Israel, launched a swift enforcement operation. Officers arrived at the scene and surprised the “needy” couple at exactly the right moment. The man was arrested on the spot, while the woman managed to flee before she was later caught.
The highlight of the arrest was the seizure of the couple’s new Range Rover, whose market value is estimated at more than half a million shekels, a sum most of the people who donated to them can only dream of.
The Palestinian Police Public Relations Department stated that the vehicle was confiscated at the scene and that legal proceedings had been initiated against the two on suspicion of operating an organized fraud network. Palestinian Police officials stressed that the case involved a cynical and outrageous exploitation of the public’s compassion and charitable donations, and urged residents to remain vigilant and avoid falling victim to “wealthy beggars.”
It now remains to be seen whether the court will show compassion toward the couple or send them somewhere with conditions less luxurious than the leather seats of their Range Rover.
