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Yom Kippur on Israel's Northern Border
Update on the situation on the Northern Border of Israel and Arab strike against co-existence in Israel.
Thursday evening Israelis turned on their news to find that once again, the enemy is testing the security at the northern border. The Jerusalem Post reported that
"Thirty-five years after the Yom Kippur War erupted, the Israel Air Force scrambled ighter jets to the border with Lebanon after a suspicious aircraft was detected approaching Israeli airspace. 
Two jets and an attack helicopter were scrambled to the border one hour before the fast ended after an unidentified aircraft was spotted flying very close to the border. The aircraft, together with ground forces, conducted searches on the ground and shortly later returned to base after the plane turned around and flew back north into Lebanon." Israeli Jets [Photo: courtesy]
In addition, in a possible pre-planned riot in Acco in Northern Israel, an Arab drove into a predominantly Jewish neighborhood, disturbing the quiet of the Holiest day of the Jewish year. This provoked a strong reaction from Jewish residents which escalated to a full-scale riot.
"Israeli police have decided to play down the seriousness of the outbreak in the mixed northern town of Acre, which began with a noisy Arab motorist speeding through a Jewish street on Yom Kippur Eve, Oct. 8 and ended with an Arab mob screaming “Itbakh al Yahoud” (Slaughter the Jews) as they smashed and looted Jewish shops."
On Yom Kippur, Israel closes down for the most holy day of the year: Yom Kippur. Traffic, broadcasts, the airport and daily worldly distractions are stopped to the extent possible as the great majority of Jewish Israelis fast and pray on the annual day of atonement. In Jewish neighborhoods there is no automobile traffic save that of ambulances, police or other emergency services. Following the evening prayers, the streets are often filled with those strolling to get fresh air after a long day; kids are in the streets with their bicycles and roller blades. Little children are playing and running around in the street and no one worries that a car would appear to endanger them.
Debka continued: "The ancient town of some 60,000 souls (of which one-third are Arabs) on Israel’s Mediterranean coast north of Haifa had settled down Wednesday night to pray and fast on the Jewish Day of Atonement, on which vehicular traffic customarily stops all over Israel, when a car driven by an Arab resident hurtled at high speed down a mostly-Jewish street on the eastern side of the town.
"Witnesses reported that pedestrians fled in panic from its path. The driver refused requests to turn down his blaring radio, whereupon a group of Jewish youths smashed his car windows. He parked, ran into one of the houses and pelted the crowd outside with household objects and curses.
Fifteen minutes later, four more cars drove up packed with Arab youths. They careened around the predominantly Jewish neighborhood shouting “Allah is Great” and “Death to the Jews.” Meanwhile hundreds of young Arabs swarmed through Acre’s main thoroughfare, Ben-Ami Street, smashing and looting hundreds of Jewish shops. They overturned parked cars and knocked over traffic lights, Hebrew signboards and fences."
Reports differ on how long it took police to arrive. As is usual on a Jewish holiday most of the on-duty policemen were Arab.
Some Members of Knesset (Israeli Parliament) are calling for an investigation to see if morning prayers at the Mosques had included calls to attack on Yom Kippur.
"Public Security Minister Avi Dichter vowed on Friday that police would deal firmly with those responsible for inciting the violent riots that erupted between Jewish and Arab residents in Acre on the eve of Yom Kippur.
"The inciters and perpetrators will be located and brought to justice," Dichter pledged.
He also blasted both Jews and Muslims for the incitement that led to the escalation of the riots. "We will check the calls in Mosques for the Arab public to go out onto the streets," Dichter said. [Haaretz]
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