Arab Arrested After Attack on Light Rail

Police on Monday morning arrested a 15-year-old Arab youth who threw rocks and bottles of paint at the light rail in Yerushalayim. No one was hurt, but there was damage to one of the cars of the light rail train.

Such attacks have become common in recent weeks, as Arab teenagers throw not only rocks at the trains, but also paint, which is difficult to clean off. Some of the paint is thrown on the front of the trains, in the apparent hope that the driver will not be able to navigate the train, effectively shutting it down.

Overnight Sunday, security officials said they had arrested 9 wanted security suspects in Yehudah and Shomron. The suspects were wanted for participating in rioting and throwing stones and firebombs that endangered Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers. Several of the suspects were also charged with belonging to Hamas. All were being questioned on their activities by security forces.

Police meanwhile continued their campaign of rounding up illegal Arab workers, arresting an additional 26 workers in northern Israel. In addition, police on Monday morning stopped a van that was traveling toward Tel Aviv, and discovered 22 illegal Arabs inside. All the workers were arrested.

Over the past week, police have arrested some 400 illegal Palestinian workers. Last week, the Knesset passed on its final readings a law that significantly increases the penalties levied against employers who allow illegal Arab workers into their businesses. The new sanctions would increase fines against individual employers to NIS 226,000 per incident of employing illegal Palestinian workers, compared to the maximum NIS 75,000 now.

In addition, employers could be sentenced to up to four years in prison, and courts would have the right to close a business down altogether for up to 60 days as part of the penalties.