Acre: Arab mob beats Jew to death in public lynching, dozens of houses burn down
Elad Barzilai, a 37-year old father of four, was lynched by a mob in Akko (Acre) on Wednesday night. Barzilai, a teacher, had gone out to ensure the safety of his students and to instruct them to avoid confrontations with the Arab mobs that have taken over several cities. He was attacked by a mob who beat him with sticks and pelted him with rocks until one blow with a rock caused grave damage to the victim’s head. The attackers persisted even when security forces and paramedics arrived making it difficult to evacuate the victim from the scene.
Barzilai is hospitalized in the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya where he was listed in serious condition. Since being admitted, he has undergone a head operation and has been transferred to the hospital’s neurosurgery intensive care unit where he succumbed to his wounds. Barzilai left behind a wife and four children.
It was also reported that dozens of guest houses in Akko were vandalized and burned last night. There are approximately50,000 residents with roughly one-third being Arab. The city is a seeming model of pluralism with significant populatiopns of Druze and Christians. It is condiered a holy city in the Bahai faith.
מרכז שימור בעיר העתיקה של עכו.
פונו משרדים של רשות העתיקות.
בזיון, לא היה דבר כזה מ 1947.This is the first time in the city’s history that Jews and Arabs have clashed. The violence is quite different than what Israel experienced in the intifadas in which attacks were carried out by individuals rather than mobs. It also comes while the southern part of the country is under intense rocket attack
Arab violence has appeared in several Israeli cities with mixed Arab-Jewish populations, most notably in Haifa, Jaffa, Tiberias, and Lod which is currently under a state of emergency. It was reported that at least 20 people were hospitalized last night in Lod as a result of the Arab violence.
Israel in the News
