Far-right Israeli mob drag ‘Arab man’ from car and beat him unconscious

An ‘Arab’ man was dragged from his car and nearly ‘lynched’ to death by a mob of ultranationalist Israelis.

The shocking violence comes as Arabs and Jews fought each other on the streets, while rockets fired from Gaza light up the skies overhead.

This latest brutal attack was broadcast live on TV and was reportedly justified by the far-right mob who said the victim was an Arab man who tried to ram the demonstration in Bat Yam, south of Tel Aviv.

However, footage shows a motorist trying to avoid the protest. The victim was left bloodied and unconscious in the street for 15 minutes before police and the emergency services arrived.

‘The victim of the lynching is seriously injured but stable,’ Tel Aviv’s Ichilov hospital said.

Elsewhere in Bat Yam, a group of black-clad Israelis smashed the windows of an Arab-owned ice cream shop, as ultranationalists chanted, ‘Death to Arabs!’

Meanwhile, a senior police officer said Arabs are suspected of attacking and seriously wounding a Jewish man in the coastal city of Acre, Israel’s Channel 13 reported.

Across the region, rioters have torched vehicles, a restaurant and a synagogue in one of the worst spates of communal violence Israel has seen in years.

Far-right lawmaker Betzalel Smotrich, head of the Religious Zionism party, said he was ‘ashamed’ of the ‘atrocious cruelty’ of the Bat Yam attack.

‘Jewish brothers, stop! We cannot under any circumstances allow ourselves to take part in violent acts,’ he said.

Yitzhak Yossef, Israel’s chief rabbi, also called for an end to attacks by Jews.

‘Innocent citizens are being attacked by terrorist organisations, the heart is heavy and the images difficult, but we cannot allow ourselves to be drawn into provocations and aggressions,’ he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on both Jews and Arabs to cease attacks on each other.

‘It doesn’t matter to me that your blood is boiling. You can’t take the law in your hands,’ he said.

Police said they arrested nearly 400 people allegedly ‘involved in riots and disturbances’ across the country on Wednesday.

It comes as Israel pressed ahead with a fierce military offensive in the Gaza Strip, killing as many as 10 senior Hamas military figures.

The country’s defence force also toppled a pair of high-rise towers housing Hamas facilities in airstrikes.

But the Islamic militant group showed no signs of backing down and fired hundreds of rockets at Israeli cities.

In just three days, this latest round of fighting between the bitter enemies has already begun to resemble a devastating 50-day war in 2014.

Israel carried out an intense barrage of airstrikes just after sunrise, taking down dozens of targets in several minutes that set off bone-rattling explosions across Gaza.

Airstrikes continued throughout the day, filling the sky with pillars of smoke.

At nightfall, the streets of Gaza City resembled a ghost town as people huddled indoors on the final night of Islam’s holiest month of Ramadan.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.