Not long after Tuesday’s bulldozer attack, an Orthodox Jewish mob went after two Palestinians after a store dispute in Jerusalem, according to Ynet and The Jerusalem Post.
Click “more” to read excerpts from these stories.
Ynet has this first-person perspective from the man who shielded the Palestinians, who is not named:
“Two ultra-Orthodox guys from the yeshiva’s balcony yelled: ‘Murder the Jews who protect Arabs,'” the man said. “The two Arabs told us that they had a dispute with the Orthodox owner of a nearby store. After they argued, the masses arrived and started beating them up. We waited a few minutes for things to relax, and then my son and I took them out to a nearby alley, so they can go home.”
However, a mob then again came out of the yeshiva and started chasing the two Palestinians.
“They caught them and beat them up terribly,” the Jewish man said. “My son and I were quick to protect them with our bodies…then, two Orthodox men arrived and one told us: ‘You’re saving Arabs?’ they pulled out knives. I managed to grab the arm of one of them, yet the second one cut my stomach.”
The man said that at this point the mob began dispersing in panic. Large police forces were meanwhile called to the scene.
“It was a mad scuffle…crazy people who are calling themselves ‘religious’ almost killed the two Palestinians and me. I was unwilling to see anyone being killed – I was educated against violence and to protect any person. Fortunately I’m a strong man, but had I been stabbed one centimeter higher or lower, this would have ended in murder.”
The Jerusalem Post says:
The incident occurred in the Makor Baruch neighborhood, home to both Orthodox learning institutions, and hardware stores and other such outlets that draw many Arab shoppers and employees.
According to eyewitnesses, two battered and bleeding Arabs barged into the yard of a family sitting shiva (the seven-day Jewish mourning period), followed by a mob of furious yeshiva students.
The family of the house protected the two men and repelled the mob.
One member of the family said students had yelled at him from the balcony of the yeshiva, which overlooks the house, calling to “kill Jews who protect Arabs.”
Top photo: Orthodox Jewish men in Manhattan. Credit: Ernst Moeksis