Police: Haifa Lynch Not Nationalistic

Police have backtracked on describing the lynch attempt on two off-duty IDF soldiers in Haifa as being based on “nationalistic intentions.” Police said that the attack was an act of violence connected to a neighborhood feud, and was not connected to the fact that the soldiers were Jewish. On Saturday night, police had said that it appeared that the attack was one of Arabs on Jews.

The two soldiers, who were attacked by a mob of over a dozen Arabs, said that they had been asked if they were Jewish, and when they answered affirmatively, the Arabs attacked them, kicking and punching them and hitting them with metal sticks and bricks. One of the soldiers said that an Arab had used a knife to carve an Arabic slogan on his forehead.