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Israeli Arab Shot Dead as Jerusalem Riots Spillover; Two Jewish Suspects Arrested

Police arrest two Jewish suspects on suspicion of involvement in the shooting of Moussa Hassouna after masked protesters threw stones at Jewish homes

by Haaretz
Bar Peleg, Josh Breiner and Yanal Jbareen
for Haaretz
May. 11, 2021 9:54 AM

Israeli Arab Shot Dead as Jerusalem Riots Spillover; Two Jewish Suspects Arrested

Police arrest two Jewish suspects on suspicion of involvement in the shooting of Moussa Hassouna after masked protesters threw stones at Jewish homes

by Haaretz
May 11, 2021 9:54 am

An Israeli Arab man was killed and another moderately wounded in the central Israeli city of Lod on Monday night, as demonstrations and riots mushroomed throughout the country following the escalating violence in Jerusalem.

Some 200 masked protesters gathered outside the municipality building in the mixed Jewish-Arab city on Monday night, where they burned trashcans and hurled stones and fireworks at police.

Police arrested two Jewish suspects on suspicion of involvement in the shooting of 32-year-old Moussa Hassouna. He was survived by three children and a wife.

One possibility being investigated is that he was shot by residents after Arab rioters threw stones at Jewish homes, tore down traffic signs and set objects on fire.

A video of the event shows people running towards a car, one with a firebomb in hand, followed by gunshots and screams of "Allahu akbar."

Local resident Meir Layosh said that the mob tried to break into homes while the police took a long time to arrive. "The residents shot into the air before the mob, which didn't divert them, until [the residents] shot towards them and two of the rioters were wounded."

The medics who treated the two said that shortly after 1 A.M., a few dozen residents began rioting near the city's Hashmonaim Street. Rioters approached the United Hatzala ambulances, which were stationed at a distance from the clashes, and asked them to treat two wounded. Police reported two gunshot victims when they arrived at the scene and are investigating the incident.

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Yoel Frankenberg, a Lod resident who was there, said "It was terrifying. If they hadn't opened fire, [the rioters] would have gotten into our houses." He added that their likely target was a group of buildings housing members of Garin Torani, a religious Zionist group that sets up communities in underdeveloped areas.

Frankenberg told Haaretz that a few dozen masked Arab men gathered on the nearby Hahashmonaim Street and started setting trash cans on fire.

"We couldn't walk around there, it was clear that we were their target." Frankenberg said that he and his neighbors called the police dozens of times over 40 minutes, but they did not come.

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Israeli Paramilitary Settler Kills One Palestinian, Injures Another in Lod

by IMEMC News
May 10, 2021

As Palestinian citizens of Israel took to the streets Monday to protest the ongoing Israeli assault on the al-Aqsa Mosque and Muslim worshipers in Jerusalem, heavily-armed Israeli settlers began to open fire with live ammunition at the Palestinian demonstrators, killing one and wounding another.

The Palestinian who was killed was identified as Musa Hassouna, 31, a resident of Lod.

Eyewitness Amir Abu Ghanem reported that Hassouna was walking with two of his friends in the street when the Israeli settler began firing live bullets at him and his friends.

On Monday, following an Israeli attack on the al-Aqsa Mosque in which more than 300 Palestinian worshipers were injured by Israeli soldiers and settlers, Palestinians in numerous cities and towns in Israel began spontaneous marches in the streets calling for an end to the Israeli attacks on Jerusalem and on the Muslim holy site.

In addition to Lod and Jaffa, protests took place in the towns of Umm al-Fahm, Ain Mahal, Tamra, Shafa Amr, Majd al-Krum, Deir Hanna, Nahf, and the Negev.

At the protest in Lod, Palestinian protesters took down the Israeli flag from a flagpole in the city center, and raised the flag of Palestine. They also burned tires and blocked traffic from passing the center of the city.