A city torn apart

Posted By David Kenner Wednesday, October 15, 2008 - 2:05 PM Share

Uriel Sinai/Getty Images

In Israel, a simple car ride through the northern city of Acre has sparked a national crisis. Tawfik Jamal, an Israeli Arab, was driving through a predominantly Jewish neighborhood on Yom Kippur -- a holiday where it is customary for Israeli Jews not to use their cars. Jamal's car was surrounded by an angry mob, who threw stones and lightly injured his son. Witnesses would later contend that Jamal was driving recklessly and playing loud music, which he denies.

As news of the attack spread, Arab residents responded by breaking the windows of Jewish shops and hurling rocks at their homes. Arab-Jewish clashes continued over the next three days as Jewish rioters responded, burning and looting the houses of Arab residents. Arab residents were further inflamed by the arrest of Jamal for "harming religious sentiment," an effort to appease Jewish sentiment.

While the violence has mostly died down, there are signs that radical movements will use the still raw emotions as justification for their own political ends. Both Syria and Hezbollah released statements condemning Israel for complicity in the rioting. More ominously, the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine threatened to murder Knesset Member Avigdor Lieberman in retaliation for the rioting. The organization said that his fate will be similar to that of former Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze'evi, who the organization assassinated in 2001.

Let's hope cooler heads prevail.

(3)

HIDE COMMENTS LOGIN OR REGISTER REPORT ABUSE

CEOLAF

5:09 PM ET

October 15, 2008

Yom Kippur

Let's be clear here, Yom Kippur is a bit more than simply "a holiday where it is customary for Israeli Jews not to use their cars." It is, in fact, the holiest day of the year, the Day of Atonement.

Let's let the context right.

I'm a lapsed Jew, so I could have this wrong, but I also believe that on Yom Kippur it is traditional NOT to form angry mobs, throw stones or injure children -- lightly or otherwise. God is supposed to be paying attention as s/he decides whether you live or die in the next year.

So, which was a greater violation of Yom Kippur, driving recklessly and playing loud music or trying to stone someone?

KIDZIB

5:47 PM ET

October 15, 2008

Recklessly?

I don't think there's any proof that the man was driving "recklessly" or playing loud music. There isn't even any proof that he was intentionally trying to be provocative by driving his car through a Jewish neighborhood. Indeed, he was arrested and frog-marched in front of a Knesset committee and graciously apologized if he offended anyone and said he never would have driven there if he knew that such an action would have led to this kind of reaction. This is a case of fundamentalist Jews going crazy and sparking backlash, and it is little different from when fundamentalist Muslims go crazy and provoke a Jewish backlash. Actually, there is one difference - the media is always quick to point a finger at Islamic fundamentalist crazies but doesn't even mention the role of Jewish fundamentalist crazies, in this incidence or others like it in the past.

DAVID KENNER

8:55 AM ET

October 16, 2008

"Customary"

There may have been a better word that I could have chosen than "customary" -- it is certainly the case that the vast majority of Jews don't drive. I was trying to draw the contrast that, while it is customary not to drive, it is not illegal per se. Mr. Jamal had every legal right to be on that road.

Passport, FP’s flagship blog, brings you news and hidden angles on the biggest stories of the day, as well as insights and under-the-radar gems from around the world.