Lod city council candidate shot on eve of elections

Police arrested two men in Tuesday in connection with the Monday night shooting of a Lod city council candidate.

Abd al-Karim Azbarga, an A-Nida Al Arab party candidate for city council, was leaving a campaign event at a house in Lod shortly before midnight, when a masked man shot him in the stomach. Paramedics took him to Assaf Harofeh Medical Center in Tzrifin in serious condition.

The two suspects are currently in police custody for questioning and will be taken to Ramla Magistrate Court later for a remand hearing.

Police are investigating whether the shooting was politically motivated.

Tensions between Arabs and Jews in the mixed city have run high in the run-up to the polls, which opened Tuesday morning.

After the shooting, supporters of Azbarga gave Channel 10 a recording of mayoral candidate Yoram Marciano allegedly inciting against Arabs.

In the recording a man who is allegedly Marciano said that he sees Lod is no longer a Jewish city and specifically notes that Azbarga is head of the city’s parent-teacher association. He went on to say that there is an existential threat to the demographics of the country.

Marciano categorically denied that it was his voice on the recording and accused the staff of an opponent of trying to use the incident to their advantage.