Three synagogues torched in antisemitic “pogrom” in Lod, Israel

Three synagogues have been torched in Lod in what the Israeli town’s Mayor likened to an antisemitic pogrom.

Intense Arab rioting broke out in the central Israeli city, which is populated by a mix of Jewish and Arab residents. Cars and numerous shops were also set ablaze, while City Hall and a local museum were also reportedly attacked.

The Mayor compared the situation to the 1938 Kristallnacht pogrom in Nazi Germany, as he lamented that decades of coexistence had broken down. In response to his pleas for help, the Israeli Government declared a state of emergency in the city for the first time in decades and bolstered the law enforcement presence.

Harrowing videos of the video and of sacred Torah scrolls being removed from the ruins have circulated on social media.

One Jewish resident told the media: “Gangs of Arab youths are going street to street, burning stores, smashing windows. Jewish families are huddled at home, terrified of going out. Their cars are being set alight outside… Police are nowhere to be seen.”

There were also reports that some Jewish residents were refraining from using public bomb shelters to protect themselves from Hamas rocket fire for fear that they would be attacked by mobs if they appeared in the open.

The riots come in the wake of fighting between terrorist organisations and Israel.

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Campaign Against Antisemitism’s 2020 Antisemitism Barometer revealed that an overwhelming 91% of British Jews want the British Government to proscribe the antisemitic genocidal terrorist group Hamas in its entirety.