Fireworks (stock image)
Fireworks (stock image)Flash 90

As Israelis gathered around the country Tuesday evening to remember loved ones who fell in the line of duty or were murdered by terrorists, residents of the mixed town of Lod in central Israel were subjected to an impromptu – and unauthorized – fireworks show.

The display, put on by residents of one of the city’s Arab neighborhoods, outraged many of Lod’s Jewish residents, who noted that the fireworks were set off precisely while the memorial siren was sounded at 8:00 p.m.

In an interview with Channel 20, Yair Revivo, the Mayor of Lod, vowed that the perpetrators would be brought to justice.

“The police are already in the middle of raiding the home where the fireworks were fired off,” Revivo told Channel 20.

“I promise that those responsible for setting off the fireworks will curse the day [they were born]. This [the fireworks] was a red line that was crossed, and we can’t ignore it.”

Revivo has intervened in the past during similar provocations by Arab residents of Lod.

In April 2014, members of the Abu Sirhan clan in Lod fired dozens of fireworks at Jewish homes during Holocaust Remembrance day. Revivo made his way to the site where the illegal fireworks had been shot from, and was confronted by dozens of local youths. Police later intervened, and arrested seven members of the Abu Sirhan clan.

"We will not allow anyone to disturb the basic calm that residents deserve, be they Jewish or Arab,” said Revivo. “The firing of fireworks in accordance with the law requires a license and involves many regulations,” he noted, and vowed to stop the phenomenon of firing guns and setting off fireworks in the Arab sector.

In 2017, Revivo was involved in another confrontation with local Arabs when a local mosque refused to comply with police orders during the pre-dawn Eid al-Adha “Sacrifice Feast” and blasted prayers on its loudspeaker system in the middle of the night.