A militia of Jewish extremists assaulted on Sunday a Palestinian driver and tried to burn him alive inside his vehicle in Rahat City in the north of the Negev desert.
Local sources said that a Palestinian driver identified as Salah Abu Zayed was evacuated to a hospital after Jewish militiamen who call themselves “the Barel Rangers” assaulted him adding that police officers tried to pressure the victim in the hospital to close the case.
This armed militia was established recently by Almog Cohen a former police officer and a senior member of the Kahanist party Otzma Yehudit that is led by far-right Knesset member Itamar Ben Gvir.
In this regard Jum’ah Zabarqa coordinator of the steering committee for the Negev Arabs explained that four Jewish gunmen aboard a car intercepted Abu Zayed’s bus and attacked him with pepper spray.
Zabarqa added that they tried to torch the bus while Zayed was inside it but they left him when they saw a passenger with him.
Haaretz news website said on Saturday that the Barel Rangers was named after border policeman Barel Shmueli who was killed on the Gaza Strip border last August.
Haaretz revealed this militia is backed by the Israeli police and was formed to target the Palestinian residents of Negev at the pretext of providing protection for Jewish citizens.
