Following deadly bus station attack, Israeli lawmaker says 'this is what sliding into an abyss looks like'

Mila Zerhom.

On Monday, Israel was still reeling from an attack on Sunday that left three people dead, including an Israeli soldier, the man who shot him, and an innocent asylum seeker from Eritrea.

Violence has plagued Israel over the past three weeks due to tensions over a site in Jerusalem that is sacred to Muslims and Jews, with attacks happening on almost a daily basis; nine Israelis and 40 Palestinians are dead, and dozens injured. Pepper spray is flying off the shelves, the Los Angeles Times reports, and there's been a bump in handgun permit applications. Once footage was released of the mob beating Zerhom, several politicians spoke out against the incident, including opposition lawmaker Dov Khenin. "This is what sliding into an abyss looks like," he wrote on Facebook. "One crime breeds another. Indiscriminate shooting in Beersheba. Fatality and injuries. Fear and hysteria. Lynching an asylum seeker. If each and every one of us does not act now to stop the fall, we will reach darker places yet."

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Investigators are looking over the security video to track down people involved in the incident. One man interviewed by Israeli media, who gave his nickname of Dudu, said he told police he believed Zerhom was a terrorist: "I told them that if he was a terrorist, no one would have said a word about it. Today I regret it, but this is only in hindsight. I didn't sleep well at night, all I could think of was this. I felt disgusting."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.