The Advantages of Hindsight

Now he realizes the errors of his ways:

Driver who sparked Acre riots: I'd sacrifice myself to bring back coexistence

The Arab man who drove into a Jewish neighborhood in Acre on the eve of Yom Kippur, sparking a series of riots and violent clashes, told the Knesset Committee of the Interior on Sunday that he would "sacrifice his neck" to bring coexistence back to the bi-national nothern city.

"If what I did caused this, I am ready to sacrifice my neck right here on this table, on lowered gallows, just to return peace and quiet back to the city of Acre, to bring co-existence back to its place.

Jamal said that contrary to the accusations brought against him, he had not been drunk nor playing loud music when he entered the Jewish neighborhood last Wednesday. "I just wanted to go home, I made and mistake and tried to ask for forgiveness. This has been a harrowing experience."

How difficult is it to play along with coexistence when the restrictions of Yom kippur are so well known? Even the person I suspect of fomenting the riots owned up:

Senior police officers met with local Arab leaders on Saturday, and all agreed on the need to restore normalcy as soon as possible.

MK Abbas Zkoor (United Arab List-Ta'al), an Acre resident, said that after the meeting, participants published a statement calling for reconciliation and even denouncing the Arab driver who, according to Jewish residents, sparked the riots Wednesday night by driving through the neighborhood blasting loud music while the Yom Kippur prayers were under way.

but

The discussion heated up when Hadash Chairman Mohammad Barakeh said that the riots were started by a group of radical Jews who settled in the city with the encouragement of "political elements sitting around this table" in a bid to maintain the city's Jewish character.

Keep this in mind:-

Teen wounded in Akko Riots may lose eyesight
Jewish teenager hit by rock during Akko riots recounts the incident

Since the beginning of the Akko Riots, 14 people have been admitted to the hospital in Nahariya, all of them Jewish. The most seriously wounded victim is 18-year-old Barak Avadi, an Akko resident and yeshiva student. Avadi was hit in the eye with a stone, and it's still too early to tell how much damage was done to his eyesight

"I've been living in Akko since I was a child and violent incidents are nothing new. On Saturday, around 9:30 pm, my friends and I were getting ready for prayer in the backyard of a private residence. The surrounding rooftops had about 30 to 40 Arabs standing on them. They were shouting insults in our direction. There were a few police officers in the street at that time, and they noticed this, by they were called to assist on the next street. That signaled the Arabs to start throwing rocks at us."

"One of our guys suddenly shouted and we all scattered across the yard, trying to dodge the rocks. Next thing I know, I got hit in the eye, and a friend of mine carried me to a house next door. The woman there took care of me until the ambulance arrived. All that time the Arabs were shouting obscenities in Arabic."