An Israeli man about to be lynched by an angry crowd in an Arab Muslim village, Taibe, says people who pulled him from his burning car and thus rescued from imminent death were Arabs.
The incident occurred amid massive rioting by the Arab population
across Israel, after Israeli police shot dead an Arab youth on
Friday.
READ MORE: Thousands of Israeli Arabs protest
after cops shoot and kill 22yo (PHOTOS)
An Israeli driver, a resident of the northern Israeli city of
Netanya, encountered one of the angry mobs on his way home from
work. The man said the Arabs stopped his car and having realized
the driver could not speak Arabic, started to throw stones at his
car and eventually set it on fire.
“A few Arabs helped me get out of the car, from the passenger
side," the driver, who identified himself as Moshe, told
Galei Tzahal (Army Radio) on Monday.
"I was afraid I was going to die and the car was about to go
up in flames any second. Suddenly, someone pulled me out of the
car and put me into his car that had his children in it. He saved
my life."
The man said he was extremely lucky to be alive and not even
sustain any injuries in the incident.
“What happened to me was really on the level of a
miracle,” he said. “I got out with just a few
scratches.”
Moshe said he wanted “to give many thanks” to his
rescuers, while the local authorities said that despite it being
Arab people who attacked a Jewish man, it was not a reason to
stigmatize Arabs as a whole.
"Those who saved the victim were Arabs from Taibe, and not
all Taibe residents were looking to do damage," said Eric
Bermi, the director of the government council responsible for
overseeing Taibe's municipal services, the Jerusalem Post
reported.
Tensions between the Palestinian and the Israeli populations have
nevertheless been on the rise lately. Friday saw clashes on a “Day of Rage” after Israel
imposed entry restrictions on the Al-Aqsa mosque – the third
holiest site in Islam, and the holiest place in Judaism.
The weekend was marked with protests over Israeli police killing an Arab
man.
On Monday, an Israeli Defense Forces soldier was stabbed at a train station in Tel Aviv in
what is suspected to be a terrorist attack by a Palestinian.