Israeli Army Radio cuts off interview after youth suggests violent response to Arab rioters

Yehuda Lieber, whose brother was injured in car-ramming attack, tells radio host that Arab who hurls firebombs at Jews “should have bones broken.”

By Gur Salomon, World Israel News

In a highly irregular sanction, Israel’s Army Radio early Sunday cut short a live interview with a young ‘hilltop youth’ following a controversial comment he had made on what he views as the proper response to Arabs who throw firebombs at Jews.

Yehuda Lieber, who resides at Givat Oz Zion in Samaria, was interviewed about his brother’s injury in a car-ramming attack in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Shimon Hatzadik, aka Sheikh Jarrah, on Saturday night, where violent clashes between Jews and Arabs erupted over the weekend.

Lieber’s brother, 20, sustained moderate injuries in the attack. Police intercepted and detained the suspected driver shortly after he fled the scene.

“An Arab who starts up and throws a Molotov cocktail at a Jew, who pulls a knife on a Jew, who pulls out a stick on a Jew, needs to have his bones broken,” Israel National News quoted Lieber as telling radio host Efi Triger. Lieber was referring to comments that he and a group of his friends had made to Palestinians they encountered at Shimon Hatzadik during Operation Guardian of the Walls last May, when clashes broke out in mixed Arab-Jewish cities across Israel.

Lieber said he and his colleagues from the hilltops were there to help defend the home of Tal Yoshubiev Friday night after it came under barrages of stones and firebombs.

He said that their presence successfully deterred the attackers.

“Sorry, we don’t incite to violence here, and we do not take the law into our own hands on this broadcast … we don’t break anyone’s bones,” Triger told Lieber. He wished the latter’s brother a speedy recovery before taking him off the air. .

On Friday night, the Yoshubiev family was once again targeted by Palestinian assailants who reportedly hurled petrol bombs at their home, located just hundreds of meters from the Israel Police National Headquarter, and set it ablaze. The structure was heavily damaged, including a the bedroom of a newborn.

The family was not at home during the attack. Firefighters that scrambled to the scene extinguished the flames, according to Israel National News.

The Yoshubievs have long been targeted by Palestinian rioters in melees that occasionally erupt in the neighborhood and its vicinity. The family has previously filed numerous complaints with the police on harassment by their Palestinian neighbors. Their cars have been set ablaze nine times in recent years.

The family has accused the government and the police of turning a blind eye to their distress.

Arab riotsArab violenceCar-ramminghilltop youthJerusalem ArabsSheikh Jarrah