On Wednesday February 15th, the Israeli government bulldozers came into the mixed city of Acre (Akko) and carried out four demolitions of Arab citizens' homes. They arrived next to the “Strauss” Milk factory building with hundreds of policemen, closed off the area and threw the families out while arresting some of the men as the bulldozers rolled in and destroyed these families’ homes. 30 people were left homeless with nowhere to go. 

The events in Acre went unreported in the mainstream media, there is still no answer as to why the permits these Arab families submitted were denied or why the “Strauss” building next to it was approved. 

This is part of the new settlers government’s plan to set already flammable relationships  between Arab and Jewish citizens in the mixed cities on fire, in order to show that both communities can’t live together and promote the separation in the way it’s done in Hebron or Jerusalem.  This works to divide and segregate instead of bringing people together in spaces that are already coinhabited. 

This follows in a long line of confrontations in Acre, specifically. Arab citizens were attacked in October 2008 in an incident of a hate crime which escalated into home demolitions of Arab homes. In May 2021, when tensions erupted all across Israel and the Occupied Territories, violence broke out in Acre after a Jewish resident was killed in a car accident. This led to serious violence between the two groups of residents including the destruction of property. Which leads us to the situation today. 

The Mossawa Center, which has previously warned high level diplomats that instances such as these will happen, condemns and reprehends the home demolitions in the strongest sense. The Mossawa Center is in contact with the displaced families and is offering them full support in this trying time. The Israeli government should be held responsible for equal housing and planning services. 

In the same week tens of demolition orders were distributed in the unrecognized villages in the Naqab area. Another region targeted by the settlers' extreme political parties that control the new Israel government.