Police on Sunday night three Arab Israeli men arrested after clashes broke out in Jaffa in competitive demonstrations after the violent assault on a head of jisiva in the mixed Jewish-Arab city living along Tel Aviv.
Rabbi Eliyahu Mali was violently attacked on Sunday morning in an apparent hate crime while trying to buy an apartment to house his Shirat Moshe Hesder Yeshiva. Two suspects were later arrested.
In response to the incident, a rally of mainly religious Zionist Jews took place near the site of the attack on Sunday night, in which violence against Jews in the city was condemned.
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At the same time, a counter-protest of local Arab Israelis across the street formed against the Jewish protest, with the words: ‘Settlers, go home’.
While police a human barrier between the two demonstrations form, are attacked by rocks and fireworks are thrown at them, police in Israel in a statement.
Clashes between Arab Israeli protesters and police in Jaffa, 18 April 2021. (Screenshot: Ynet)
Footage of the incident shows the fireworks coming from the direction of the Arab Israelite protest.
Two police officers sustained minor injuries, police said.
In the incident early Sunday, Mali and his colleague were assaulted when they went to a building in Jaffa to view the property. The two are surrounded by Arab residents of the area, who start yelling at them and ordering them to leave. When they refused and started filming the incident, the suspects started beating Mali and his colleague.
Mali did not need hospitalization due to his injuries.
Photos posted online showed the rabbi being kicked to the ground in his sixties.
Two residents of Jaffa filmed the defeat of Rabbi Eliyahu Mali on April 18, 2021. (With thanks)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the “violent attack” and urged law enforcement to bring the attackers to justice quickly.
Law-abiding lawmakers also strongly condemned the attack, calling it anti-Semitic.
“The state of Israel is not a shtetl in which Jews can cause harm, ”tweeted Yamina party leader Naftali Bennett, referring to the Jewish hamlets of Eastern Europe. “The serious and open violence against Rabbi Eliyahu Mali, the head of the hesder Yesha in Jaffa, is a … national disgrace. ‘
“We are witnessing a series of attacks by Arab attackers on Jews who hold Torah, which is deliberate and anti-Semitic,” he said.
Jerusalem Affairs Minister Rafi Peretz described the incident as a “cold” and urged police to bring the attackers to justice.
Jaffa, now housed in Tel Aviv, was traditionally Arab, but in recent years many Jewish residents have moved, drawn by new luxury housing developments. This gentrification fueled tensions in the city.
