This is what the AP writes about the current riots in Akko/Acre, a mixed Arab and Jewish town in Israel:
Police say two Arab-owned apartments were torched in the Israeli town of Acre amid clashes between Jews and Arabs.
Police say Saturday rioters torched two empty apartments owned by Arabs in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood. Overall, 12 people are in custody for rioting and eight are under house arrest.
Authorities sent reinforcements and Israeli leaders appealed for calm. On Friday, hundreds of Jewish residents marched in the streets, chanting “Death to the Arabs.”
Sectarian violence erupted in Acre on Wednesday, during observances of the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. Since then, hundreds of Arabs and Jews have rioted, throwing stones and vandalizing shops and cars.
Acre is one of only a few mixed Arab-Jewish towns in Israel.
If you read only this report, you’d think that the Jews of Akko were going after the Arabs for no apparent reason other than “sectarian violence”. And yet, here’s the Ynet report about what happened:
The evening’s rioting recommenced at 9 pm, when Arabs began to throw stones at dozens of Jewish youths who formed a crowd in one of the city’s eastern neighborhoods. One hundred and fifty people surrounded an apartment building in which an Arab family and a Jewish family reside.
Three people were injured, including a man walking his dog, who sustained a mild head injury from a stone that was flung at him.
[…] Cat and mouse games ensued Friday night between police forces and groups of residents throwing stones at one another in different locations throughout the city. Three additional youths were arrested.
Imagine that. It isn’t just the Jews. It’s the Arabs, too. And yet, you wouldn’t know that from the AP reports.
And after digging through more than half the Reuters report, all of which discusses Jewish violence and none discusses the Arab roots of the problem, Reuters writes in paragraphs ten and eleven:
Trouble started in Acre after dark Wednesday at the start of the Yom Kippur, the holiest day for Jews, when an Arab drove into a Jewish district, disturbing the start of 24 hours during which many Jews fast and abstain from driving.
As word spread from mosque loudspeakers of Jewish youths stoning the car, Arab crowds responded angrily, causing widespread damage to cars and shops in a main city street.
It isn’t that I expect fairness out of the media regarding Israel. Not anymore. But for once, truth would be nice. And in that light, I’m going to excerpt a first-hand account of the riots. You can read it here first.