Lod man arrested for shooting fireworks during Memorial Day moment of silence

Police on Wednesday arrested a 37-year-old resident of the central city of Lod on suspicion that he had set off fireworks during the Memorial Day siren and moment of silence commemorating Israel’s fallen on the previous evening.

Local Arab leaders issued a prompt response condemning the incident as the act of a lone provocateur.

When he appeared in the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday morning for a remand hearing, the suspect gave his name as Dudu Avraham, claiming he was Jewish and asking to be released so he could celebrate Independence Day.

The court extended his remand by a day.

However, Lod Mayor Yair Revivo posted on Facebook that Avraham was known in the mixed Jewish-Arab city as an extremist who has attempted several times to sabotage coexistence. Revivo said that as soon as he heard about the incident, his first thought was that Avraham was responsible.

לוד: זיקוקים הופעלו בזמן הצפירהhttps://t.co/BvzvC74Apo pic.twitter.com/pCRLX30MCX

— רשת (@Reshettv) April 17, 2018

The mayor said that Avraham’s real name is Daoud Mahmoud Hasnin, an Arab Muslim resident of the city. His estranged father converted to Judaism some 20 years ago, so he does have Jewish relatives, but he is not in contact with them. For the past year, Revivo alleged, Avraham had tried in various ways to sabotage the good relations between Jews and Arabs in the city. He accused him of cynically claiming to be Jewish.

“I praise the Arab community in Lod and the members of the Arab council who immediately condemned the act,” Revivo said.

Avraham’s attorney told the court that his client denied setting off the fireworks and that he was with his family at the time.

The siren, which sounded on Tuesday night and again on Wednesday morning, brought the country to a halt to commemorate the 23,646 fallen members of the security forces and 3,134 terror victims in Israel’s history.

The day is marked annually with candle-lighting ceremonies, melancholy music on the radio and newspaper features and TV programs about those who died.

The commemoration day, established in 1951 by then-prime minister and defense minister David Ben Gurion, was set for the 4th of Iyar, the day before Independence Day, which begins immediately after Memorial Day on Wednesday night. It is being held a day early this year so that the Independence Day celebrations do not fall on Friday, which might interfere with the start of Shabbat on Friday evening.