Protest after Racist Attack against Three Arabs Men at Haifa Beach

Hadash and the Haifa branch of the Communist Party of Israel (CPI) will be holding a demonstration this evening, Thursday August 30, beginning at 17:30, following a racially-inspired hate crime attack last week against three Arab men who were beaten by a group of Jews at the Kyriat Haim beach near Haifa. During a solidarity event held in their hometown of Shef-‘Amr (Shfaram) on Monday night, August 27, the three victims of the attack, Dr. Muhammad Yusifin, Muatasim Ayoub, and Mawd Ayoub, said the outpouring of support for them has given them hope.

A call for the demonstration, tonight, at Kiryat Haim: "Haifa against Racism", in Hebrew and Arabic

A call for the demonstration, tonight, at Kiryat Haim: “Haifa against Racism”, in Hebrew and Arabic

The three victims, a physician and two nurses, filed a complaint with police Thursday, August 23, saying they were relaxing at the beach the night before when they were approached by a man who asked them if they were Arabs. After they replied that they were, the questioner allegedly left and came back with approximately nine other persons who then proceeded to beat the trio.

“They approached us with knives and metal bars and just started beating us for no reason,” Yusifin, told Al-Ittihad, the Arabic-language newspaper of the CPI. “They planned to kill us, all three of us.” Dr. Yusifin told his interviewer that he and his friends were assisted by two persons who managed to stop the attack and called police and an ambulance. “Not all people are bad like these guys were. The people who helped us were two Jews who got the group to leave the scene,” he said. “Not all the people are the same, and we too are part of Israel,” he said. The three victims were taken to hospital to receive medical attention for their injuries.

Hadash MKs tied the attack to the recently passed racist law that defines Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people. The head of the Joint List party, MK Ayman Odeh and MK Aida Touma-Sliman pointed a finger at the increasing racism and unchecked incitement against the Arab community that can be traced to the highest echelons of the government.

“The hidden clause in the Nation-State Law attacks Arabs based on racism. These [attackers] are not fringe elements, but a phenomenon being nurtured under the auspices of government incitement,” Odeh wrote. “It’s not happenstance… This is the unavoidable result of the wild incitement and de-legitimization led by the heads of government against the Arab public,” MK Touma-Sliman said.

This evening’s demonstration in Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/717954495208739