Young male Jerusalem Arabs appear to have started a new trend in the capital similar to one that gained traction last year in Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods of New York City.
Within 72 hours four Jewish men were attacked by young male Arabs. All the attacks took place in and around the Old City of Jerusalem.
On Saturday night a gang of young Arab males hurled rocks at Jewish people while they were walking on the sidewalk outside the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. One man in particular became the target of the stone-throwers.
התקיפה.https://t.co/YiIK302IoP
— אריאל אלחרר (@ariel_elharar_)
The attack was subsequently posted to the TikTok social media website with a music bed featuring a male Arabic-language singer, as on videos posted by Arab terrorist organizations produced in hopes of frightening Israelis.
Also Saturday night, a second such attack took place on a stone staircase in the Old City, with a group of young male Arabs knocking the hat off a young Jewish man as he was walking down the steps, and then kicking the hat further down the stairs before racing away laughing.
הנה עוד מטרנד ביזוי היהודים בטיקטוק, ערבים זורקים לחרדי את הכובע בירושלים. pic.twitter.com/y02N9kS1s6
— אריאל אלחרר (@ariel_elharar_)
On Friday, Jerusalem Police arrested a 21-year-old Arab male from the city’s northern neighborhood of Beit Hanina in connection with another attack that took place Thursday on the Jerusalem Light Rail, also posted on TikTok.
The suspect in custody filmed a young Arab male attacker as he slapped an Orthodox Jewish man with great force while riding the Jerusalem Light Rail.
המשטרה עצרה הבוקר צעיר בן 21 מבית חנינה שחשוד במעורבות במקרה, החשוד שסטר לבחור טרם נעצר, במשטרת ירושלים עושים מאמצים גדולים בנסיון לעצור אותו https://t.co/ZPjRxpv3rA
— חיים גולדברג (@haim_goldberg)
The person filming the attack then posted the clip on his personal TikTok account, Hebrew-language Kikar HaShabbat journalist Haim Goldberg reported.
תיעוד: צעיר ערבי סוטר לבחור חרדי במהלך נסיעה ברכבת הקלה, סתם, בשביל הסרטון ואת התיעוד הוא פרסם בחשבון הטיקטוק האישי שלו pic.twitter.com/4EWaKAfdfv
— חיים גולדברג (@haim_goldberg)
Police are continuing to search for the attacker.
A similar incident occurred in the Old City of Jerusalem also on Thursday, with another young Jerusalem Arab male filmed by his friends as he attacked Orthodox Jewish yeshiva students. A video clip of this attack was likewise posted to TikTok.
עיר העתיקה, ירושלים pic.twitter.com/NMZFavgZDZ
— בנציון טאובר (@Benzion40)
Transportation Minister Miri Regev expressed “shock” at seeing the video of the attack on the Jerusalem Light Rail.
“I instructed the National Public Transport Authority to cooperate with the Israel Police to bring about a speedy investigation of the incident and the application of the full force of the law against those responsible for the attack,” she said in her statement.
United Torah Judaism chairman MK Moshe Gafni likewise urged law enforcement and police to “act with all their might” to catch the offender, “who carried out an anti-Semitic attack on yeshiva students.”
Gafni said he will ask Public Security Minister Amir Ohana to “give priority to the case, catch the offender and put him behind bars to prevent the recurrence of such serious cases.”
Similar violent attacks on Orthodox Jews have been taking place in Brooklyn, New York for more than a year.