A low-impact explosion lightly damaged the car of an Arab Israeli MP as his wife, who escaped uninjured, started the engine in Haifa yesterday, sources close to Issam Makhul said. âAn explosion set the car on fire when she turned on the engine,â Amin Nakhle, fellow member of the Arab Israeli leftist Hadash Party, said. âThe device had been placed under the car but did go off completely,â he added. âHis wife Suad managed to get out and was not hurt.â
"Honey, we've had a couple bomb threats. Why don't you warm the car up today?"
"Okay, dear." |
Makhlul, 51, had been about to leave his family home in Haifa, in northern Israel, in another car parked next to his wifeâs, Nakhle said. âI think the political climate in Israel where ministers and MPs call for punishing and killing all those who actively support peace, prompts some people to carry out such acts,â he said.
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The device weighed less than one kilogram, Israeli police sources said. âIt is difficult to say who carried out this operation. I donât have any personal enemies,â Makhlul told public radio, adding that he believed the blast was motivated by ânationalistâ sentiment. However, Israeli parliamentary security officials quoted by the radio, said threats against Arab Israeli MPs come from âcriminal elementsâ within their own community rather than from extremists in Israel. Makhlul, who has been an MP since 1999, will now be protected by personal guards. |