A group of Arab terrorists attempted to bomb Jewish families on Thursday night in the mixed city of Lod. The attack took place in the Ramat Elyashiv neighborhood, where religious-Zionist Jewish families live in five buildings surrounded by several primarily Arab residences. Shortly after 9:00 p.m., Jewish families living in the neighborhood heard a loud explosion. Residents went out to see what had caused the blast and saw that one bomb had been set off in a courtyard and that a second bomb had not yet exploded. Police were called in and safely defused the second bomb. Neither bomb caused injury, but a child who was playing near the scene of the attack was badly frightened, local Jews said. Police initially reported that the attack had targeted a known criminal and was apparently criminally motivated. However, by Friday morning police released a second statement, reporting that the attack was apparently “motivated by nationalism” -- in other words, that the attackers targeted Jews simply because they hate Jews. The attackers managed to flee the scene and have not yet been arrested. Officers said Friday that they were working with Arab and Muslim contacts in the city in an attempt to locate the terrorists. Tzur Shapir, one of the Jews living in Ramat Elyashiv, said Friday, “This serious incident is a new peak in continually escalating attacks. This isn't something that began just now... Lately there have been several cases of harassment, apparently from Arabs.” Among other things, attackers recently burned a flag belonging to the local pre-army academy and sprayed swastikas on a girls' high school, Shapir said. The local Jewish community center has been attacked as well. Shapir heads a group of religious Zionist Jewish families who live in Lod for ideological reasons, hoping to strengthen Torah observance in the city and assist their fellow Jewish residents in the area. Two hundred families are involved in the project, which currently includes a girls' high school, a boys' high school, the pre-army academy, a community center and daycare centers. In October of last year, attackers set fire to a 60-year-old synagogue in Lod, causing serious damage. Police arrested two 15-year-old Arab boys in connection with the crime. The two claim they are innocent.
