National Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai called the situation unprecedented.
“We are seeing a situation in the mixed [Jewish-Arab] cities that we have never seen before, including the incidents of October 2000,” Shabtai said. (Widespread rioting broke out among Arab Israelis in October 2000 at the start of the second Intifada.)
Arab violence erupted in numerous other cities across Israel, and there were also reports of Jewish revenge attacks, including in Lod, where a Muslim cemetery was set ablaze.
Attacks were reported on Jewish homes in Ramle, where cars were also stoned. In Acre, a restaurant and a hotel were set ablaze.
מסעדת אורי בורי בעיר העתיקה בעכו הוצתה@CBeyarpic.twitter.com/mB9y8GI9ol
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Avi Korkas examines the damage to a municipality office that was torched in a night of violence between Arab Israeli protesters and Israel Police in the city of Lod, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Heidi Levine)
President Reuven Rivlin urged Arab Israeli leaders on Tuesday to speak out against an outburst of violence by rioters in Arab-Jewish cities overnight.
“I just made an urgent phone call to Mudar Younes, chair of the Arab Councils Mayors Committee, and passed on a sharp message about the Arab violence that went wild in the streets of some mixed cities last night, including Lod, Ramle, and the cities of the Triangle,” Rivlin said in a statement on social media.
Arab local gov't chief: Violence will spill into Jewish cities globes.co.il - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from globes.co.il Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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The meeting was orchestrated by the chairman of the Local Government Center Haim Bibas – a member of Netanyahu s Likud party – in coordination with Mudar Younes, the chairman of the local Arab councils committee.
The pair wrote a letter to Netanyahu, requesting the advancement of legislation banning illegal weapons, outlawing criminal gangs, and allocation of funds that will go towards eliminating violence in Arab communities.
Meanwhile, Bibas is promoting a proposal to use 15 percent of the funds allocated to the development of Arab municipalities to establish programs for the same purpose.
On Wednesday, dozens protested Netanyahu’s visit to Nazareth, his third to an Arab city in two weeks. Protesters clashed with officers at the scene after they refused an order from the police to move the demonstration off the road and onto the sidewalk.
Unknown armed assailants shoot, seriously wound former senior Arab politician in Israel January 9, 2021 at 11:45 am | Published in: Israel, Middle East, News, Palestine
Suleiman Aghbariah, former mayor of Umm Al-Fahm, a major Arab city in central Israel, 7 January 2021 [YZaatreh/Twitter] January 9, 2021 at 11:45 am
In light of Israeli negligence of organised crime among Arab communities in Israel, on Thursday unknown armed assailants shot and seriously wounded Suleiman Aghbariah, former mayor of Umm Al-Fahm, a major Arab city in central Israel.
Aghbariah was not only the former mayor of an Arab city, but a well-known politician and senior leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, which was banned in 2015.