The victim of a drunken attack by one of President Joe Biden’s secret service agents said that the U.S. and Israel engaged in a cover-up of the incident, telling Hebrew-language media that she is suffering from psychological distress months after the beating and demanding justice.
Tamar (Tami) Ben Haim, who is the granddaughter of former Sephardic Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, was walking near her Jerusalem home in July 2022 when she encountered two men on the street.
The pair, both secret service agents in Israel ahead of Biden’s trip to the country, had reportedly been drinking heavily for hours at a local pub in the nearby Mahane Yehuda open air market.
Although there were no words exchanged between the parties, one of the agents, identified as Patrick William, launched a frenzied attack against Ben Haim .According to Ben Haim, William accosted her, repeatedly punching her in the chest, slapping her and tearing off her earring.
She told Ynet that she was in fear for her life during the beating.
“I shouted ‘Help!’ but nobody heard me,” Ben Haim said. “I was in total despair. I thought it was the end of me. I saw that the man brutally beating me had a gun. If [the second secret service agent] hadn’t stopped him, he would have 100 percent killed me.”
Ben Haim managed to lead local police to the men, who were detained
But within two hours, William was released from detention by an official from the American embassy. The agent was placed on the first flight back to the U.S., said Nir Yasolowitz, Ben Haim’s attorney, and it’s unclear if he faced discipline for his actions.
“Tami is fighting like a lioness for her justice,” Yasolowitz said. “[Israeli] political officials preferred a photo with Biden and for the visit to pass quietly, at the cost of seriously harming an innocent citizen who did nothing wrong.”Yasolowitz called for an investigation into what he called a “cover-up” and collusion between the Israeli and U.S. governments to sweep the incident under the rug.
Ben Haim was left with PTSD after the attack and is currently undergoing psychiatric treatment. She told Ynet that she never received an apology from the American government or Israeli Foreign Ministry.
“Can you imagine what would have happened if it had been the other way around, a bodyguard of Netanyahu’s who attacked an American citizen in the U.S., and they would have released him after two hours?” she said.
“Not a chance. He would [be imprisoned and] not see the light of day in America.”
