Revivi and his sukkah guests
Revivi and his sukkah guestsOded Revivi's Facebook page

The four Palestinian Arabs who were arrested by Palestinian Authority security forces after visiting the sukkah of Efrat Mayor Oded Revivi were freed on Sunday evening, Channel 2 News reported.

According to the report, the four were released following the intervention of Major General Yoav Mordechai, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories.

The four Arabs had visited Revivi’s sukkah this past week, where they sat down for coffee with their Jewish neighbors and discussed peace. They were later arrested and accused of meeting “baby killers”. PA sources claimed they were being held in prison to protect them from revenge by other Palestinian Arabs over their visiting a Jew.

The release of the four followed an earlier call by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on the international community to intervene on their behalf.

“Where is the outrage of human rights organizations? There is none. To their great shame, they are silent,” said Netanyahu.

“These organizations prove again and against that they are not actually interested in human rights, but only in shaming Israel and libeling it around the world. They use the important ideal of human rights as a political tool to bash Israel,” he added.

Revivi himself on Saturday night urged the Palestinian Authority to release the four Arabs who visited his sukkah.

"I call upon the Palestinian Authority to immediately release my Sukkot guests. It is absurd that having coffee with Jews is considered a crime by the Palestinian Authority. Initiatives that seek to foster cooperation and peace between people should be encouraged, not silenced. It's time the Palestinian Authority asks itself whether it would prefer to fan the flames of conflict instead of working to bring people together," said Revivi.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Simchat Torah and Shmini Atzeret in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)