A motorcyclist threw a Molotov cocktail at the mayor of Hadera’s car on Tuesday
night, before fleeing as the car went up in flames.
Less than an hour
earlier, a warehouse holding much of the city’s supplies for the upcoming Purim
parade was also set alight.
Coastal Region police are still checking if
there is a link between the two incidents, and have passed over the
investigation to the district branch of the YAMAR investigative
unit.
Though the investigation is not yet complete, Mayor Haim Avitan’s
office was quick to place the blame on his political rivals in the
city.
“On Tuesday night all red lines were crossed... ever since the city
council was dissolved there has been a wild, unprecedented campaign of
incitement waged by a number of officials who don’t support his war against
crime,” the city hall said in a statement on Wednesday.
They also said
that the attack, which took place outside Avitan’s house while his wife,
children, and grandchildren were at home, was a deliberate attempt to shatter
the city’s way of life and disrupt upcoming Purim celebrations for the city’s
children.
The city said that regardless of the damage the parade would go
on as planned.
The statement also alleged that those responsible are
former members of the city council, which was dissolved in October 2010 after it
could not pass its budget.
In an interview on Wednesday morning on Army
Radio, Avitan said it was “only a matter of time” until one of his rivals would
try to attack him, adding that he has the incident on tape and he trusts the
police will find those responsible.
He also said he knows exactly who is
responsible, claiming “there are all types of political officials who operate
worse than the mafia.”
On Wednesday, Public Security Minister Itzhak
Aharonovich commented on the attack, saying “I must condemn this incident with
all severity. This is not the first time that mayors have been threatened. I
spoke with him [Avitan] and met with him and police officers from the Coastal
District in order to shed light on this serious case.”
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