Arab rioters torched a car in the Wolfson neighborhood of
The incident occurred despite police vows to adopt a "zero-tolerance" policy for anyone disturbing the peace, including Arab clerics preaching inflammatory messages from the mosques.
Although a tense quiet immediately followed, it remained to be seen how long the peace would hold.
Jewish National Front movement leader Baruch Marzel and fellow activist Itamar Ben-Gvir said Sunday morning they planned to arrive with a group of followers later in the day to demonstrate against the Arab rioters.
Police managed to quell riots Saturday night after three Jews were wounded by rocks hurled at them by Arabs, one of them a baby. An empty Arab-owned apartment also sustained heavy damage in a firebomb attack by Jews.
Friction in Meeting of Jewish and Arab Leaders
Leaders of the Jewish and Arab communities in
Zkoor argued that the heavy damage caused to firebombed Arab apartment was the most serious of the many attacks carried out during the rioting.
The Arab MK's words angered Rabbi Yashar, who responded, “The Arab community desecrated Judaism's most holy day, intentionally and with planning beforehand destroyed stores and cars, and defiled a synagogue. We have no interest in meeting with the Arab community, in light of the behavior of the community and its leaders in recent days.”
Since the riots began, 54 rioters have been arrested and at least 14 people, all of them Jews, were wounded. Two of the injured were trampled by police horses, according to Ynet, which reported that the Nahariya Hospital Emergency Room has declared a state of emergency.
Mayor Flip-Flops on Arab Condemnation Statement
Zkoor had announced earlier that the Arab leadership would issue a statement saying it didn't matter whether the Arab driver whose actions set off the riots had really intended to cause harm or not, but that he should have found another way to reach his relatives' home.
Mayor Lankry initially rejected the statement as ineffective, but later reversed his stand as clashes renewed, announcing that he was "happy the Arab leadership is condemning the incident. It was a very grave occurrence that had never before taken place in this city, and so it indeed demanded their denouncement."
MK Ariel to File Ethics Complaint Against MK Zkoor
National Union-National Religious Party Knesset Member Uri Ariel announced Sunday he plans to file a complaint with the Knesset Ethics Committee against Zkoor, charging him with inciting the city's Arabs to riot against the Jewish residents.
Ariel accused Zkoor of being present during an incident when a fire was ignited, and rather than call the police, he instead invited dozens of young Arabs from the