Israeli security forces have arrested a Palestinian Authority resident over his involvement in organizing an illegal demonstration Friday near Rachel’s Tomb on the outskirts of Bethlehem. During the protest, demonstrators slammed President Donald Trump’s recognition last month of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and compared the US to the ISIS terror organization. Last Friday, Border Police officers were attacked by stone-throwing Arab rioters in the town of Aida, just outside of Bethlehem, south of Jerusalem. Officers were forced to use nonlethal crowd dispersal equipment to regain control of the situation. Protesters waved Palestine Liberation Organization flags, held pictures of Ahed Tamimi – a teenage PA resident arrested for assaulting IDF soldiers and throwing stones – and a banner bearing an American flag and a swastika superimposed over the face of US President Donald Trump. The banner read “Zionism = Nazism = Fascism” and “USA = ISIS = Terrorism”. Israeli security forces later apprehended the organizer of the unauthorized protest outside of Al-Azariya, just east of Jerusalem. According to a police spokesperson, the suspect is a 60-year-old man who until recently worked as a senior security official in the Palestinian Authority. Police say the suspect is behind a series of riots and illegal protests. The suspect will be brought before the IDF court in Ofer, northwest of Jerusalem, later on Tuesday.
