Netanyahu warns against 'lynchings'
as clashes between Arabs and Jews rock Israeli cities
By Abeer Salman, Amir Tal and Sugam Pokharel, CNN
Updated 1203 GMT (2003 HKT) May 13, 2021
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/05/13/middleeast/israel-palestinian-violence-intl/i...In Bat Yam, south of Jaffa, graphic video Wednesday night showed a Jewish right-wing mob trying to lynch an Arab driver. Police say the man was dragged from his car before the assault began. Video shows about 20 people hitting him with metal objects and kicking him in the head repeatedly. He was taken to hospital where his injuries were described by police as moderate.
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In Acre, north of Haifa, a lynching attempt by an Arab mob left a Jewish man critically wounded, according to Israeli police. A police spokesman said the mob attacked police officers with stones before attacking the victim with stones and iron bars.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday slammed the violence in Israeli cities as "unacceptable" and said he had ordered the police to adopt emergency powers, to reinforce with Border Police units, and to impose curfews where necessary.
"Nothing justifies the lynching of Jews by Arabs and nothing justifies the lynching of Arabs by Jews," he said in a statement.
"To the citizens of Israel I say that I do not care if your blood is boiling. You cannot take the law into your own hands," Netanyahu added. "
You cannot grab an ordinary Arab citizen and try to lynch him -- just as we cannot watch Arab citizens do this to Jewish citizens."