‘KRISTALLNACHT’

‘Civil War,’ Rioting Spreads Through Israeli Cities After Gaza Airstrikes

In the mixed Arab-Jewish city of Lod, a synagogue was burned down, and a school and multiple cars torched. “My trust in my neighbors has been broken completely,” said one resident.

A number of Israeli cities with mixed Arab and Jewish populations have descended into violence in the past week, after Israel responded to rocket attacks from Hamas by conducting airstrikes in Gaza, leaving dozens dead. In Lod, where the Arab population had been living in relative peace with Israelis for years, rioters burned down a synagogue and a school after a Palestinian citizen was shot by an Israeli on Monday night, and set fire to cars. Lod Mayor Yair Revivo described the situation as “civil war” and compared it to the notorious Nazi-era “Kristallnacht” pogrom. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared a state of emergency. In Acre, a Jewish restaurant was burned down by rioters, and in the country’s southern Negev desert, mobs attacked police stations and cars. “My trust in my neighbors has been broken completely,” Lod resident Rivi Abramovich told The Jerusalem Post. “Until then, I believed we could live here together.”