Israeli Arabs riot in the Arab town of Umm al-Fahm. (Roni Ofer/Flash90) Roni Ofer/Flash90
riot Umm al-Fahm

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The suspects are accused of attacking a Jewish family who accidentally entered an Arab city by mistake due a road closure necessitated by riots in the area.

By Aryeh Savir, TPS

The Shin Bet security service and the Israel Police recently arrested nine Arabs suspected of participating in the attempted lynching of a Jewish family that accidentally entered the Arab city of Umm al-Fahm during the countrywide Arab riots last month.

The suspects, residents of the village of Zalpa, were arrested on suspicion that they participated in the May 13 attack during which they attacked the family’s vehicle in their village after the family entered the area by mistake due to the blocking of the Megiddo junction on Route 65 by police due to other riots in the area.

The suspects waited for Jews’ vehicles to enter the village following the blockade at Megiddo Junction, and when they identified the family as Jewish threw rocks at them while shouting “Jews, Jews.”

The father of the family, who realized that he had entered an ambush that endangered his family, fled into the village with the suspects in pursuit. After a long distance, when the vehicle reached Umm al-Fahm, the suspects blocked the family’s vehicle, pelted it with rocks and smashed it with poles.

The mother shielded her three children with her body, thus saving their lives.

The family’s dog was stolen during the attack and was located several hours later by police detectives.

The attempted lynching lasted until the family was rescued by local citizens, Arab residents of Umm al-Fahm, who helped the family reach the local clinic in the city and from there were evacuated with a police escort to the hospital in Afula.

A quick investigation led to the arrest of the first suspect in the act and the subsequent arrest of eight more suspects.

The nine suspects were indicted Thursday in the Haifa District Court.

This incident was one of multiple violent attacks perpetrated by Muslims against Jews and Jewish property across the country as Hamas was firing rockets at the south of the country and the IDF was engaged in the Operation Guardian of the walls.

Two Jewish men, Yigal Yehoshua and Avi Har-Even, were killed in the riots and dozens of others were injured.

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