Sheikh’s car vandalized following interfaith meeting

Several violent incidents related to Jewish-Arab tensions were reported throughout the country Thursday night.

In Acre the car of an imam who was one of the organizers of an interfaith meeting Wednesday appealing for tolerance was vandalized.

Sheikh Samir Assi’s car was smeared with an acidic substance. Police said they suspected the act was committed by Muslim extremists in response to Assi’s participation in the gathering, which called for peace following Tuesday’s terror attack in a Jerusalem synagogue.

“This was my message and it will remain my message and I will continue in this path I chose,” Nassi told Channel 2 after the incident. “I support the national popular struggle of the Palestinian Arabs, but it must be a civil struggle that does not negate the values of Islam.”

In Hadera, police arrested a 53-year-old man after he threatened to harm Arab employees in a restaurant in the city. The man arrived at the restaurant late Thursday and spoke to the owner. He first criticized the employment of Arabs at the establishment, and then threatened to harm them. He then left the premises, but returned half an hour later armed with a knife and made more threats.

One of the restaurant’s employees grabbed the man and disarmed him, after which police were summoned and arrested him.

The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court barred four teenage girls, residents of a West Bank settlement, from visiting the city for 15 days over suspicions that they attacked two Arab taxi drivers with a mace canister Thursday night.

In Petah Tikva, four members of the right-wing Lehava anti-assimilation group were arrested after they attacked two policemen. Police said the four, three of whom were minors, assaulted the officers after the latter demanded that they be allowed to inspect the pamphlets which the group was handing out in the area.

The two policemen required medical treatment for bruises sustained during the scuffle.

In the Galilee, meanwhile, several dozen Muslims, Druze and Jews held a rally in support of co-existence Friday morning. Demonstrators handed out flowers to passersby.