3 Jewish women held over Jerusalem tear gas attack on Arab
Palestinian man attacked in Jaffa Road store in which he works; police vow ‘zero tolerance towards violence’
Tamar Pileggi is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
Three young Jewish women were detained for questioning by Jerusalem police on Sunday on suspicion of attacking a Palestinian man with tear gas.
The alleged attack occurred at the Jaffa Road store in which the Arab man is employed, in a predominantly Jewish area of Jerusalem.
Police were called to the scene, where they found the victim being cared for by a passerby inside the shop.
The man gave police a description of the attackers, leading to the detention of three young women nearby. There was no indication as to whether the alleged attack had a nationalistic motive.
“Police will display zero tolerance toward any instance of violence or attempt to breach the peace,” the Jerusalem district police said in a statement.
The incident comes amid a recent surge in protests and terror attacks, after weeks of spiraling violence between Israelis and Palestinians.
Two more terror attacks hit Jerusalem on Saturday — another in a string of stabbing attacks that have targeted Jewish Israelis since October 3, when a Palestinian terrorist killed two Israelis in the Old City of Jerusalem.
With Palestinian terror attacks against Israelis occurring daily, Jewish extremists have staged protests and assaulted Arabs in various cities in recent weeks.
Earlier Sunday, the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court remanded into custody five Israeli Jews who were arrested on suspicion of assaulting an Arab man last week in the coastal city of Netanya.
On Friday, an Israeli teenager went on a stabbing spree in the southern city of Dimona, wounding three Palestinian men and a Bedouin Arab.
On Thursday in Jerusalem, activists from the anti-Arab Lehava group, along with far-right fans of the Beitar Jerusalem soccer club, marched to the Old City, chanting slogans including “Death to the Arabs” and “Muhammad is dead.”
Since the beginning of the month, at least two dozen Israelis have been injured in as many stabbing attacks by Palestinians.
Last week, two Israeli men were stabbed to death in the Old City of Jerusalem and an Israeli couple was gunned down in the West Bank in front of their four children two days before that.
The wave of attacks started in Jerusalem last month over what Israel says are unfounded rumors that Israel was expanding the Jewish presence at the Temple Mount and the al-Aqsa Mosque.
