Police minister breaks silence, condemns ethnic violence raging through country

Public Security Minister Amir Ohana, who has come under heavy criticism during the ongoing violence between Arabs and Jews across the country, issues his first statement on the situation.

“The attacks by Arabs against Jews, security forces, the symbols of Judaism and institutions of government are heartbreaking,” he says.

“This cannot be accepted and there is nothing to justify it — just as there is no, and will not be any, justification for the terrible violence and the [Jewish] mob assault this evening [of an Arab bystander],” says the minister responsible for the police.

“Violence mixed with hatred should be condemned outright,” he says, calling on all Israelis to return home.

“We have no other country. We must live here together.”

“No one has the authority to take the law into their own hands,” he concludes.