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'We respect those who fast.' MK Zkoor

MK Zkoor: Protect Arab-Israelis on Yom Kippur

Legislator demands increased Traffic Police presence at major intersections to prevent 'racist and violent' Jews from stoning Arab vehicles; 'we respect those who fast on Yom Kippur, but we want to avert a disaster,' he says

Knesset Member Abas Zkoor (United Arab List – Ta'al) sent a letter to Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter asking him to increase Traffic Police presence at major intersections in the Negev and Galilee regions on Yom Kippur for fear that Arab-Israeli vehicles will be stoned by Jews.

 

"We respect those who fast on Yom Kippur, but we want to avert a disaster," the Arab legislator told Ynet on Tuesday.

 

Save for security or medical vehicles, there is virtually no traffic in Jewish towns on Yom Kippur, but Arabs, who make up 60% of the Galilee's population, are fearful that past incidents in which their vehicles were stoned during the holiday will repeat themselves.

 

"The Arab-Israelis occasionally need to use their cars to reach hospitals and run errands on Yom Kippur, and they are fearful that children will hurl stones at them at the intersections," Zkoor said.

 

"Such incidents may increase the hatred - and this would be a shame."

 

In his letter to Dichter, the MK said "it is absurd that this violent and racist aggression repeats itself every year, and police are never there to intervene and disperse the violent and racist (perpetrators) despite the many complaints that pour in. This leads the Arab public to believe that police are deliberately allowing the young Jews to attack innocent Arab residents who drive by.

 

Indictment filed against stone thrower

Zkoor sent a copy of his letter to Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar and asked that prominent Jewish leaders condemn the phenomenon. "I know that the Jewish religion and Halacha do not permit such acts of hatred on Yom Kippur," he said.

 

Last Yom Kippur 10-year-old Tal Zino from Kfar Tavor was killed when an ATV driven by two Bedouins from a nearby village ran her over near the local synagogue.

 

The Zinos charged that the incident isn't referred to as a terror attack for fear of upsetting the shaky ties between Israel's Jewish and Arab sectors. "But it is important to say these things, to prevent similar incidents from happening."

 

The Bedouins were eventually charged with manslaughter, but Zino's parents have recently claimed that their daughter was the victim of the "first vehicular terror attack."

 

The Zinos charged that the incident isn't referred to as a terror attack for fear of upsetting the shaky ties between Israel's Jewish and Arab sectors. "But it is important to say these things, to prevent similar incidents from happening," the girl's father said.

 

Earlier Sunday an indictment was at the Jerusalem District Court against 27-year-old Jerusalem resident Emanuel Ohana, who is suspected of throwing stones at an Arab-Israeli vehicle traveling in the capital's Neve Yaakov neighborhood on the eve of the Jewish New Year.

 

One of the car's passengers was injured in the incident. 

 


פרסום ראשון: 10.07.08, 12:58
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