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Yesterday marked the beginning of Yom Kippur, or, the Day of Atonement in the Jewish faith.
It is a pitiful irony then, that it should end in riots accompanied with chants of “death to the Arabs”, following an attack on an Israeli Arab man who merely tried to drive from one side of the city to the other:
Jewish and Arab residents of the northern town of Acre resumed violent riots Thursday evening, after an Arab man drove through a prominently Jewish neighborhood during the high holiday of Yom Kippur Wednesday night, sparking a quarrel that deteriorated into some of the worst clashes the city has seen in years.
Police warded off hundreds of Jewish rioters, chanting “death to Arabs” and trying to storm the city’s main road. Border Police officers and horse-back officers were trying to prevent the rioters from reaching the center of town. Meanwhile hundreds of Arab rioters gathered in the heart of the city.
The unrest erupted around midnight on Wednesday, hours after Jews began observing Yom Kippur. An Arab resident of the old city of Acre drove his car to a neighborhood in the eastern part of the city, claiming that he owned a residence there and was simply on his way home. Jewish youths at the scene claimed the Arab man was deliberately making excessive noise and smoking.
While allegedly shouting epithets, the youths proceeded to attack the Arab man. Shortly afterward, a group of Arab youths arrived at the scene, igniting a riot.
So far, a number of suspected rioters have been arrested and police say they plan on detaining more individuals throughout Thursday and Friday. “This is a very serious incident that the city of Acre has not seen the likes of in recent years and we will deal with all the rioters and those who take the law into their own hands with an iron fist,” Edri said. [Source]
Any number of reactions could be given to this event, the notion of “live and let live” being one of them.
Alas, in Israel, this epithet does not apply.
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I thought I’d post a few clarifications here, just so the picture is a bit more complete.
According to witnesses at the scene, the Arab driver who drove into the Jewish neighbourhood had broken through road barriers set up to separate the Jewish neighbourhoods on this day where no one drives a car, and many children and pedestrians walk freely on the road. The driver was apparently driving very fast and nearly hit two girls. When Jews began to attack him, he escaped into his family apartment, while a rumour was being circulated through the Arab neighbourhoods in Acre, that he was murdered. Apparently, the clerics in the Mosque encouraged the Arabs to riot on the Jews in return.
There is a growing suspicion that these riots were pre-planned, as very quickly large numbers of Arab men entered the Jewish neighbourhoods armed with axes and began destroying Jews’ cars and shopfronts. It is estimated that about 500 Arab men participated. They rioted through the Jewish neighbourhoods yelling “death to the Jews” and “Allahu akbar”, knocking on people’s doors and threatening them.
These riots are not the first time that Arabs in Israel riot during Jewish holidays, and this response of the Jews comes after years of repeated, daily provocations from the side of the Arab population in the so-called “mixed” cities — cities where Jews and Arabs live in very close proximity.
This is the first time in decades that the Jewish population has responded so violently to Arab provocation. It surely marks an escalation in the very tense relations between Jews and Arabs in Israel, as Jews are expressing ever increasing exasperation at the ineffective protection their own government is providing them in their own country.