In several parts of the country the security situation is still volatile, and one of the flashpoints continues to be the Shimon Hatzaddik (Sheikh Jarrah) neighborhood in Jerusalem. On Monday afternoon, Arabs threw a number of firebombs at Jewish-owned homes in the area, allegedly without any police response.
“Over the last three days things, things have been getting worse and worse,” Guy Asulin, a local resident, told Arutz Sheva. “On Motzaei Shabbat [Saturday night], the Arabs started up, throwing stones and chairs at us. They also shot fireworks at us – and the police just stood by.”
Asulin added that, “Last night, there wasn’t a moment of peace. From seven in the evening they were throwing stones and fireworks – there was a constant sound of fireworks hitting the door of my home. A firework skimmed just over the head of one of my neighbors – had it been just a few centimeters lower, she would have been in the cemetery.”
Where is the police in this picture? “The police come and go,” replied Asulin. “They flash torches here and there but they don’t actually do anything. Just earlier today they threw firebombs and G-d spared us by way of miracles, but the police? We’ve totally despaired of them.”
The situation in the Shimon Hatzaddik neighborhood has been heating up over the past few months, due in part to an imminent court ruling on the ownership rights over several local buildings where Arab families have been living for years and now face eviction. The issue was exploited by Hamas during the most recent conflict in Gaza, and although the rocket fire has largely ceased, the disturbances in this Jerusalem neighborhood, only minutes from the city center, continue.
The head of the Otzma Yehudit party, MK Itamar Ben Gvir, focused his attention on the responsibility of the Prime Minister to address the situation. “We must not let this pass in silence,” he said. “I am following the incidents here with grave concern, watching as the Arabs attempt to drive Jews out of the neighborhood, attacking local residents, and I wonder whether Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is capable of doing anything about it, given that he has now allied himself with left-wingers and the Islamic Movement, which gives its full backing to these terrorist rioters.”