Regev (2nd right) at Beit Yehonatan
Regev (2nd right) at Beit YehonatanYoni Kempinski

On a tour of the Old City of Jerusalem and eastern neighborhoods of the city, Knesset Interior Committee chairperson MK Miri Regev (Likud) examined the ongoing attacks by Arabs against Jews in the area, especially at the Beit Yehonatan building in the City of David. Attacks have risen significantly since the beginning of Operation Protective Edge.

At Beit Yehonatan, Regev met the sister of IDF officer Benayah Sarel h”yd, who was killed during the operation. Accompanying Regev and attending the meeting was Rabbanit Shulamit Melamed, Director of Arutz Sheva.

Regev spoke with other residents of the building, who demanded more and better security and protection from the ongoing attacks.

“Fifty Jews live in this building and the state owe them security,” Regev told Arutz Sheva in an interview. “We cannot have a situation in which we are helpless against the riots and violence of the Arabs. I intend to bring other members of the Committee here to investigate what and how much police are doing for these people.

“Jews have a right to live anywhere in Israel, period,” said Regev. “Our job is to defend every Jew in the Land of Israel, just as we defend Christians and Muslims. Why are Jews living here not getting the security they need? I intend to do something about this,” she added.

Regev was joined by Jewish activists and Arutz Sheva Director Rabbanit Shulamit Melamed. The great were taken to see evidence of Arab attacks and intimidation, including the scrawling of swastikas by Arab vandals.

Attacks and harassment against Jews in eastern Jerusalem neighborhoods - which in many cases were populated by Jews before they were ethnically-cleansed by the Jordanian Arab Legion in 1948 - are often carried out by both local Arabs and left-wing extremists from abroad.

Just this morning a firebomb attack on a Jewish building elsewhere in the Old City left one man with burn injuries to his head.