Dozens Injured as Muslims and Druze Clash Violently in Northern Israel
by JNS.org
JNS.org – Clashes between Druze and Muslim Arabs in the northern Israeli village of Abu Snan on Friday night left 44 people wounded. Residents of the mixed village threw stones, attempted vehicular attacks, threw fragmentation grenades, and used knives and guns during the riot.
For those living in the village, the eruption of violence did not come as a surprise. Druze-Muslim tensions recently began to flare when Druze Israeli Border Police Superintendent Jadan Assad was killed in a Palestinian vehicular terror attack in Jerusalem.
Abu Snan’s Muslim community had celebrated the Jerusalem attack, angering the smaller Druze community that was mourning Assad’s loss. Some of the Muslims in the village waived Palestinian Authority flags and called the Druze people “traitors” in online forums.
Rassam, a Muslim resident of Abu Snan, told Israel Hayom after Friday night’s clashes, “That’s it, coexistence in Abu Snan is over.”