Mansour Abbas, Chairman of the Ra'am Party and a potential kingmaker in government coalition negotiations, took a tour of Lod Sunday amid rioting in the mixed Arab-Jewish city, where he called for calm and security for all residents.
During the tour, Abbas met with the family of Musa Hassona, who was shot during the riots, and visited one of the synagogue burned by rioters. Abbas also met with Lod Mayor Yair Revivo at the city hall, where the two spoke about the situation in Lod and intercommunal relations between Arab and Jewish residents.
After calling for calm, Abbas also indicated that some of the rioters were not residents of Lod.
"It was a mistake of a small handful. It is forbidden to harm holy places and whoever does so acts contrary to Islam," Abbas said.
"There is no place to accept this, as we are hurting and harming our mosques [as a result]. The red line is violence of all kinds. We have to look ahead, we have to start rebuilding the holy places and rebuilding the relationship [between the Arab and Jewish communities of Lod]," he added.
Revivo thanked Abbas for visiting the city and calling on a cessation of the violence in Lod.
"I would like to thank MK Abbas for his support and clear call to stop the violence and incitement and to work to restore coexistence and cooperation between Jews and Arabs in the city," Revivo said.
"MK Mansour Abbas came to visit the burned synagogue Beit Yisrael and condemned the criminal act, just as I condemned the attack on the Muslim cemetery. Holy places must remain out of any debate. Brave Arab leaders are a rarity and more voices must be encouraged that condemn the violence and choose to live together without finding any expression of his past," Revivo added.