The central Israeli city of Lod was placed under emergency lockdown on Tuesday night to clamp down on violence undertaken by Arab residents there.
The population of about 80,000 Jews and Arabs saw rioting and looting on Tuesday night. Arab mobs were seen throwing stones, Molotov cocktails and fireworks at police, while also burning trash cans and tires.
#Israel #Lod : First use of emergency powers over an Arab community in Israel since 1966 #اللد #לוד pic.twitter.com/tbujeY4Giw
— sebastian usher (@sebusher) May 11, 2021
They also firebombed the Maoz yeshivah, with a synagogue and dozens of cars belonging to Jewish residents set on fire.
Israel’s Defense Minister Benny Gantz ordered the country’s border police to come back up the local police, which was overwhelmed by the onset of attacks.
השם ישמור את כוחות הביטחון, לוד הלילה pic.twitter.com/7ELmnRgsjK
— orli sagi (@SagiOrli) May 11, 2021
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Lod during the overnight hours.
יד ברזל אמר ראש הממשלה? מצב חירום מיוחד? לא עושה רושם על הפורעים הטרוריסטים של לוד שממשיכים בהצתות רכבים באין מפריע. זה הרכב של משפחת אברהם, הרכב השני (!) שלהם שמוצת הלילה.
אנרכיה מוחלטת.
טירוף!!! pic.twitter.com/OtTfWm8pL4— Josh Breiner (@JoshBreiner) May 12, 2021
“I have been receiving updates all day on what is happening here in the city, and I view it extremely gravely. It’s anarchy from rioters that we cannot accept,” he said, vowing to “restore law and order.”
Situation getting out of hand in Lod. An Arab citizen shoots at Israeli police with an automatic weapon. #Israel pic.twitter.com/nxPfcAh14V
— Joe Truzman (@Jtruzmah) May 11, 2021
According to reports, 12 people were wounded in clashes with two in serious condition.
Israel Police Chief Kobi Shabtai said the situation harkened back to the start of the Second Intifada. “We have not seen this kind of violence since October 2000,” he said.
Oh yeah!! The fighting forces of Israel are in he city of Lod, on mass, to repress the neo-Nazi Jihadist thug riots. #IsraelVictory pic.twitter.com/ORfyrfy46p
— Yishai Fleisher يشاي ישי פליישר (@YishaiFleisher) May 12, 2021
Lod, in central Israel, is adjacent to Israel’s Ben-Gurion International Airport, which was temporarily shut down earlier in the evening due to incoming rockets from the Gaza Strip.
Mansour Abbas, the head of the Arab Ra’am Party, called for calm in Lod and neighboring Ramla, saying that while he understood the anger “things are developing in very dangerous directions, as peaceful popular demonstrations have turned into direct clashes which threaten the lives and safety of our youth.”
Early Wednesday morning, a rocket fell in Lod and killed two people—a woman in her 40s and a 7-year-old girl.
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