Jerusalem - Arab Today
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday warned Israelis against vigilantism after an Eritrean man died from being mistakenly shot and beaten by a mob during an attack in which a soldier was killed.
"We are a law-abiding country. No one must take the law into their own hands," Netanyahu told officials from his Likud party after Sunday night's incident in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.
The Eritrean was shot by a security guard who believed he was a second attacker, then beaten by an angry mob.
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US Secretary of State John Kerry, due to meet separately with both Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in the coming days, backed Israel's position. "Israel understands the importance of the status quo," he said during a visit to Madrid. "We are not seeking some new change. We are not seeking outsiders or others to come in." Kerry also renewed his call for an end to the violence, while adding that "Israel has every right in the world to protect itself". Most of the Palestinian attackers appear to have been acting on their own. On Monday, Netanyahu argued that online extremism was influencing attackers. "What we see here is the merging of extremist Islam and the Internet. It's Osama bin Laden meets Mark Zuckerberg," he said, referring to the Facebook chief. Checkpoints have been set up in Palestinian areas of east Jerusalem, where the majority of attackers have been from, and some 300 soldiers have begun reinforcing police. On Sunday, Israel controversially began erecting a temporary wall between the east Jerusalem Palestinian neighbourhood of Jabel Mukaber and Jewish neighbourhood Armon Hanatziv to protect it from firebomb and stone attacks. Netanyahu has come under heavy criticism over the attacks, while Abbas's calls for peaceful protest have failed to stop frustrated youths fed up with his leadership and Israel's right-wing government. |
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Source: AFP