IDF soldier attacked in Jaffa, shots ring out in Lod

The incident in Lod follows another shooting on Wednesday in which two were shot.

By David Isaac, World Israel News 

An IDF soldier, 19, was attacked in Jaffa by a gang of Arab hoodlums who threw a block at his head. His condition, initially listed as light, is now being reported as serious.

The soldier was evacuated to Ichilov hospital in Tel Aviv. In the emergency room, it was discovered that he had a cracked skull and brain hemorrhage. He is undergoing surgery.

Meanwhile, in Lod, a hotbed of Arab violence, the situation has worsened despite a curfew and a stream of Border Police into the city to restore order. Fears that gunplay would be added to the mix, given the Arab sector is awash in weapons, has been borne out as a Jew was shot on Thursday.

The incident follows another shooting on Wednesday in which two were shot.

In one video distributed on social media Thursday, people are seen running as multiple shots ring out and bullets can be seen bouncing off the pavement of a parking area.

TV news commentators are voicing fears of what could ensue if the Arab sector in the city decides to take up arms. Channel 13 pundits claimed there isn’t an Arab home in Lod without a gun.

Also on Thursday in Lod, a Jewish man was stabbed in his back by an Arab near a mosque. He was evacuated to Assaf Harofeh Hospital in Tel Aviv.

In southern Tel Aviv on Thursday, two Jews roughed up a Kan News cameraman. The cameraman was punched and fell to the ground. He was then hit twice in the head with a motorcycle helmet. The attackers took off. The victim was evacuated to the hospital and is reportedly lightly injured. Police later arrested the attackers.

Kan News, which airs on Channel 11, is Israel’s public broadcaster. Funded by public monies, it is considered slanted with a left-wing bias by right-wing Israelis.

In a news program aired on Wednesday night, a guest became emotional and sharply criticized the studio panel for what she considered its overemphasis on a Jewish attack on an Arab man in Bat Yam earlier that evening.

She told the panel: “I have sat here for nearly two hours… you broadcast the lynch, which really was shocking and deserving of all condemnation, and it’s forbidden that such violence should be carried out at the hands of Jews… but you have simply lost proportion. Friends of mine in Sderot haven’t left their safe rooms in two days with little children and you broadcast one solitary lynch above everything.”

“What’s happening to you? You’ve lost the basic sympathy for our people. I’m simply embarrassed to be sitting here in this studio. I’m not capable of sitting here,” she said.

Arab riotsArab-Jewish relationsJaffaLod