Yom Kippur Riots in Akko
Filed under Judaism, Jewish history & culture, Opinion Editorials, Israeli Palestinian relations, Terror attacks on Israel, Israeli Arabs, Israeli minorities, Israeli society – on Friday, October 10, 2008 – By: Ragen, Naomi

According to an eyewitness report published by YNET

http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3607155,00.html, Arabs carried out a planned attack against their Jewish neighbors on Yom Kippur.

The witness, who said he was standing in the main square of the Jewish neighborhood of Akko, a city with many Muslim residents, when a taxi driven by an Arab entered the neighborhood Yom Kippur evening at high speed with music blaring and almost ran down children in the street.

Surrounded by angry Jewish residents, he parked his car, cursed them, and entered a building, where he targeted residents with objects pitched from the seventh floor.

Soon after, a busload of Arabs bearing truncheons, axes and knives crying: “Death to the Jews” and “Allah u Akbar” cut a swathe through the crowd of peaceful, fasting Jews, uprooting trees and street lights, smashing car and store windows, and destroying everything in their path. Jewish residents, who were fasting and unarmed, fled, taking shelter in nearby buildings.

When the police arrived (some reported Akko police only had Arab policemen on duty and they were slow to respond, but this isn’t confirmed) and finally arrested a few of the rioters, several said that this had been a planned attack which had nothing to do with the specific incident with the cab driver. Arab residents said some of the rioters were not residents of Akko, but had come in from outside several days before.

There is now a curfew on the city. Akko residents, who came under attack during the Lebanon War said that the destruction to their city was far worse than anything that happened during the war. Some Israeli reporters are trying to portray this as an escalation of tensions following an “accident,” claiming that Arab residents feared the driver had had an innocent accident and was lynched by Jewish residents. Eyewitness reports and police testimony so far show a different picture.

It seems to me that this might be a terrorist attempt to stir up trouble in the peaceful relations between Arab and Jewish residents. If so, Akko will not be the last city to experience unexplained “tensions.” Keep posted.

The opinions and views articulated by the author do not necessarily reflect those of Israel e News.

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