Tel-Chai Nation: Police gun down knifer, and for this Arabs riot

Once again a riot breaks out by Muslims in Israel who see nothing wrong with threatening authorities with a knife:

Arabs in Israel began to riot Saturday after police shot and killed of 22-year-old Hir Alhamdan, a resident of Kafr Kana in the Galilee. Alhamdan had lunged at a police car and repeatedly made stabbing motions toward the car's window.

The apparently crazed man attacked the police vehicle Friday night, as Nazareth police entered Kafr Kana to arrest a person suspected of throwing a stun grenade in the course of a family feud.

Police originally claimed that policemen fired in the air before shooting the man and that he posed a threat to the policemen's lives when he was shot. Security camera video shows, though, that this is arguable, although it is clear he did behave in an exceedingly threatening way seconds earlier. The wider context in which the incident occurred is not shown in the video.

About 5,000 residents of Kafr Kana demonstrated Saturday in protest of the shooting. Dozens of youths set tires alight and hurled rocks and firebombs at police. Some bore signs saying “His only crime was being an Arab,” and others shouted “Zionists, get out of our lives.”

Heating things up were Sheikh Raed Salah, who heads the Northern Wing of the Islamic Movement in Israel, MK Muhammad Barakeh and ex-MK Taleb a-Sana. The rioters claimed that the 22-year-old was shot when he was trying to run away from the police.

One hour after the riot, two forest fires broke out – at Akada and Mei Ami near Umm el Fahm and the suspicion is that they were acts of arson carried out in revenge for the young man's death.

The Supreme Monitoring Committee of Israel's Arabs called for a general strike Monday in the Arab sector. Riots are expected in the Triangle region, the north, the Galilee and and Wadi Ara.

Well if they want to go on strike, that's fine, because we'd rather not support their businesses anyway. Several people were injured by the riots, including an infant:

A three-year-old baby boy was among several Israelis injured Saturday evening in a string of rock attacks by Arabs. The baby was taken to hospital with "light" wounds when the car he was traveling in was targeted by rock-throwing Palestinians close to Shiloh Junction in southern Samaria's Binyamin region.

Magen David Adom medics provided first aid treatment to the infant, who suffered from a head wound, before evacuating him to Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital in Jerusalem.

Arab extremists have stepped up a campaign of rock-attacks against Israeli motorists Saturday night.

Two people were lightly wounded Saturday evening when rock-throwing Arab rioters attacked a bus traveling along Route 65 near the Iron region (Wadi Ara) police station in northern Israel.

Later Saturday evening three people were lightly wounded when the bus they were traveling on crashed into a barrier on the side of the road on Route 5 in northern Samaria (Shomron), near Barkan. The driver reportedly lost control of the bus after Palestinian attackers pelted it with large rocks.

Magen David Adom paramedics provided first aid treatment and evacuated the wounded to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikvah.

In Jerusalem, dozens of Arab rioters hurled rocks and fireworks at police and security forces in A-Tur. Police used riot-control methods to disperse the attackers, and one Arab youth was arrested for disturbing the peace.

Also in the capital, at least three rock-throwing attacks against the Jerusalem light rail were reported Saturday night in Beit Hanina. No injuries were reported but damage was caused to the carriages. Two residents of the Arab neighborhood of Shuafat were arrested in connection with those attacks.

In Ral al-Amud, near Silwan, rioters also targeted security forces with rocks and firebombs. One of the rioters was chased into a nearby building and arrested by police along with another man who threatened arresting officers.