Eight Arrested in Sheikh Jarrah Violence

Police said eight suspects were arrested following violence in East Yerushalayim’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood early Sunday.

Two of the suspects allegedly maced passersby, and the others hurled stones, police said on Sunday evening. They were not identified to the news media.

“In the past day we have witnessed disinformation and misinformation circulating on social media in relation to various events in the area, along with violent and inflammatory online discourse, and unlawful attempts to ignite the area,” police said in a statement, as they reportedly braced for more violence Sunday night.

Following a firebomb attack on a Jewish home, fighting broke out between police and protesters, and between Jews and Palestinians. Tensions were high after Otzma Yehudit head MK Itamar Ben-Gvir announced that he would be setting up an office in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood on Sunday morning in order to “protect them.”

The neighborhood has long been a flashpoint, with Israeli Jews attempting to evict Palestinians in a decades-long legal battle that helped touch off a war between Israel and Hamas terrorists last year.

A Jewish man was injured in a ramming attack around midnight. Police arrested the driver, who claimed he had been pepper-sprayed prior to the collision, apparently by protesters.

The incident was initially suspected to be a ramming attack. Ynet then said police had ruled that out, but Army Radio said Sunday that the possibility was still being checked.