Arab riots and confrontations continue into the night in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Shimon Hatzadik (Sheihk Jarrah). This comes after Arabs set fire to a Jewish home in Shimon Hatzadik on Friday night, Arab rioters clashed with police on Saturday night, and Arabs ran over two Jews with their car, in just the latest attempt by the Arabs to expel the Jews who live in the area.
Arab opposition MKs from the Joint MKs Ofer Cassif and Ahmed Tibi showed up in the neighborhood, which only seemed to make matters worse.
Tibi got into a physical confrontation with Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem Aryeh King.
עימות פיזי בין ח״כ אחמד טיבי לסגן ראש עיריית ירושלים אריה קינג בשייח גארח pic.twitter.com/30N2XEFPXc
— חיים גולדברג (@haim_goldberg) February 13, 2022
Israel’s police issued a statement promising to maintain order in the area, even as Israel’s evening news broadcasts aired footage of continued mayhem there. “In the last few hours, there have been a number of riots, during which the forces acted on the ground, using means to disperse riots and arrests,” said the police.
מהומה בעקבות הגעת חברי הכנסת מהרשימה המשותפת, עופר כסיף ואחמד טיבי לשייח ג'ראח. המשטרה חוצצת בין הצדדים pic.twitter.com/Mx9eTCOrRD
— שלומי הלר (@Heller_shlomi) February 13, 2022
The neighborhood was home to a number of Jewish families before 1948, but during Israel’s fight for independence, the Jews were forced to flee. Under the final truce ending the War, the area fell under the control of Jordan which proceeded to lease the Jewish properties to Arabs families.
After long legal battles, Israel’s courts ruled in favor of the original owners of some of the properties there. The courts ordered the current occupants to vacate the premises and return the homes to their rightful owners. Unfortunately, the Palestinian Authority, along with the terrorist organization Hamas, and certain other groups have turned this into a cause célèbre.
Last year Hamas launched missiles at civilian targets in Israel, including Jerusalem, claiming that it did so to defend the Arab families forced to move out of the homes in the neighborhood. This led to an open conflict which Israel called “Guardians of the Wall.” And Hamas is once again threatening Israel over the future of the neighborhood.
Now the organization is threatening even more violence.
המהומה בשייח ג'ראח: ידויי אבנים לעבר כוחות המשטרה מהבית שבו נמצאים חברי הכנסת של הרשימה המשותפת@VeredPelman pic.twitter.com/OX1PhwWNC3
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) February 13, 2022
Muhammad Hamadeh, Hamas spokesman for Jerusalem who sits in the Gaza Strip, stated Saturday night that “the attack of the settlers’ herds, led Ben Gvir on our people in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in the dead of night, is a blatant aggression and playing with fire in Jerusalem.” The terror organization “warns the occupation (Israel) of the consequences of continuing this predation, which is tantamount to tampering with the detonators that will only explode in its face.”
The police department also stated that over the last day it has witnessed false information circulated on social networks against it. In addition, it has also seen “violent and inflammatory discourse and attempts to incite the area.”
Dozens of policemen and border guards continue to operate in a wide area Sunday evening against rioters and incidents of violence.
The Israel Police promised that it would continue to act with “determination and zero tolerance for violence of any kind, violation of public order and attempts to harm police officers or civilians in violation of the law.”
Content by JewishPress.com News Desk was used in this report.
