Arab citizens of Israel went on a rampage against their Jewish neighbors in the cities of Lod (or Lydda) and Ramle on Tuesday night, setting synagogues on fire, attacking stores, and forcing authorities to evacuate Jewish residents.
The attack, which is being called a “pogrom” (mob violence against Jews) is one of the worst experienced in the region since the 1930s, in the days before Israeli statehood, when Palestinian Arab leader incited locals to attack Jewish communities.
It has been accompanied by Arab riots against Jews in other cities, including in the coastal towns of Acre and Jaffa (above).
As Hamas launches rockets into Israel, Israeli Arabs have been attacking their Jewish neighbors, from Acre in the north to Bedouin in the Negev. Here are photos from the ransacking of a synagogue in Lod, where there’s basically a pogrom going on since last night. pic.twitter.com/LLcUKhsTSz
— Lahav Harkov (@LahavHarkov) May 11, 2021
The violence broke out in solidarity with Palestinian riots in Jerusalem, and rocket attacks launched from the Gaza Strip.
A synagogue on fire in Lod, set aflame by a mob of Arab residents responding to Hamas’ call. https://t.co/ns8yKkJT7s
— Haviv Rettig Gur (@havivrettiggur) May 11, 2021
Earlier this week, Arab rioters confronted Jewish residents, and an Arab man was shot and killed in an alleged hate crime.
Breitbart News witnessed blazes set in the streets of Jaffa on Monday evening. One girl participating in a parade there to mark “Jerusalem Day,” the annual celebration of Israel’s reunification of Jerusalem, was spat upon by an Arab neighbor.
Police have struggled to contain the violence. The Times of Israel reported on Tuesday:
Intense Arab rioting is reported in the Arab-Jewish cities of Ramle and Lod tonight, after hours of unrest.
Channel 12 reports that three synagogues and numerous shops have been set on fire in Lod, and dozens of cars have been set alight. The network says police are escorting some terrified Jewish residents from homes in Lod.
…
Lod resident Shiloh Fried tells Channel 12: “Gangs of Arab youths are going street to street, burning stores, smashing windows… Jewish families are huddled at home, terrified of going out… Their cars are being set alight outside… Police are nowhere to be seen.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared a state of emergency in Lod, following an emergency meeting with his Cabinet about the violence.
Caroline Glick writing in Israel Hayom, noted that Arab violence against Jews has been ongoing since the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan: “And so it happened that at the outset of the month, Jews in Jerusalem, Jaffa and beyond found themselves beset by gangs of Arab thugs who beat them on the streets and light-rail cars just because they were Jews.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new e-book, The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it). His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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