Lod (file)
Lod (file)Flash 90

A real estate office that markets apartments in Lod to the religious-Zionist sector was set on fire at week's end.

 
The office belongs to real estate firm Kardan, and is located in  Lod's Old City. It has been selling 300 housing units for families from the religious-Zionist sector. Seventy-five religious-Zionist families currently live in that section of Lod as part of a 300-family strong religious-Zionist nucleus group that has settled in Lod in order to strengthen the Jewish presence there.
 
A security guard saw several youths running away from the scene of the fire immediately after the blaze broke out. Police arrived on the scene and began investigating.
 
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu recently toured Lod in order to show his support for the residents, who face Arab violence daily. He declared the city would not be Israel's "Wild West." The cabinet later approved a special plan for improving Lod's situation. But Assaf Weiss, Chairman of the Lod Security Headquarters, said after the arson attack that “there is no need to wait for a government decision in order to bring personal security to the residents of Lod.”
 
"The municipality and the police have the ability to put an end to the crime in the city but they are not doing it,” he said. “For instance: they could take care of the fireworks and firecrackers that go off every evening, and which are illegal by all criteria.”  
 
Weiss added: “The torching of the sales office for the religious public will not deter us from bringing more families into the neighborhood. The religious-Zionist nucleus group has succeeded in bringing hundreds of families into Lod in recent years, with the aim of strengthening the place. The arson will not deter us from acting and bringing social change in face of the violence in the city.”