Israelis Protest Soccer Violence Against Arabs
Some 100 Israelis took to the streets in Jerusalem on Wednesday in protest of the attack by Israeli soccer fans on Arab cleaning personnel at the capital’s Malha shopping center.
A large police force secured the event, which protested the incident last week in which hundreds of Beitar Jerusalem supporters assaulted Arab workers at a mall, in what was said to be one of Jerusalem’s biggest-ever ethnic clashes.
“We came to say something simple – that the ugly incident from last week – is not our way,” one of the organizers of the protest said. “Jerusalem belongs to all its residents – Jews and Arabs.”
Akram, one of the cleaning personnel that were assaulted last week, said he was glad the incident was published in the media. “It is good that people around the world know what happened here. What isn’t good for the Arabs, isn’t good for the Jews.”
Osnat Kollek, the daughter of former Jerusalem mayor Teddy Kollek, spoke during the rally and condemned the attacks.
“I would like to personally apologize,” she said.
For more, go to Haaretz.com
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