- Okay, Micky, tell us, we're here in Lod,

what's been going on?

- We're at the entrance ofLod in the heart of Israel

we're about five kilometersfrom the international airport.

We've had major disturbances and riots

that have taken place insidethe city and, at the moment,

there are more than 500extra border police officers

tactically located at all different areas,

both static at the entrance to the city,

both walking and patrollingthe different neighborhoods,

in order to prevent any further riots.

What I can confirm is thatboth inside the city itself,

where we are, we've hadsynagogues that have been burnt,

an Israeli man was murdered brutally

by Israeli Arab suspects who were arrested

as part of the ongoing investigation.

But this is a flashpoint

in the heart of Israel at the moment.

- [Chris] And how manydays ago did this happen

and what is the situation right now?

- The most recent incident,disturbing incident

when that Israeli man waskilled, took place last Monday.

So, we're talking aboutjust over a week ago

and since then there'sbeen tensions and riots

that have been flaring up all night

across the areas of Lod andother major cities nearby,

like Ramle but this hasbeen the flashpoint.

Here at the entrance of the city

our units are ready to respond,

they're fully equippedusing non- lethal weapons

in order to respond toany types of incident.

Me, as a police officerhere, where we are,

we have to be very careful

of any vehicle that can goand ram into any one of us,

very simply at any given time.

But as you can see hereinside the neighborhoods

the apartments are mixed,

both Jewish as well asIsraeli Arab neighborhoods,

and apartments literally door to door.

So we have to make surethat we have enough units

at the right place at the right time.

- So, as we cross hereMicky, what sparked all this?

How did this all get started?

- Well, this was part of the tensions

that took place all acrossIsrael, unfortunately,

by Israeli Arabs who wereinvolved in disturbances,

took to the streets unnecessarilyand it's very sad to see,

I'll tell you why,

because the Israeli Arabsare part of our community.

Within the Israeli national police

we have hundreds of police officers

that are from the Muslim community.

All of a sudden they take to the streets.

All of a sudden, as you can see here,

they were burning stuff,burning equipment,

they were involved in full-scale riots.

All of this was equipment thatthey used to block the roads.

There was a full scale riotwhere our police units,

over here where we are right now,

had to use non-lethal weapons

and disperse and prevent Israeli Arabs

from attacking Jewishpeople here in the city.

It's not 1948.

It's not 1967.

It's not the pogroms.

These type of acts

cannot take place in amodern democratic society.

- [Chris] Does it remind some people

of the riots back in the 1920s?

- Absolutely, absolutely.

When a synagogue here in thecity was burnt by rioters

our units responded quickly.

Our units arrived at the scene.

Our units put out the flames.

Our units had to protect people.

Unfortunately, there wasalso a revenge incident

that took place where anumber of Jewish people

were in and around the streets here

and they tried to defend themselves

from when they were being attacked.

And what happened was there,

is they opened fire in self-defense

and also one Israeli localArab resident was killed.

So the tensions arestill high where we are,

a lot of activity going on on the ground.

As when we walk the streets,it's relatively quiet

but you can see all the apartments.

Everybody is looking outof the different balconies

watching what's going onand our police officers,

already the next SWAT teamis over here in front of us

ready to respond to any type of incident

and the time response fromthem is literally seconds.

They can be at the entranceof any apartment building

where they need to be inorder to break up violence

and prevent anyone from getting injured.

- What has been done to tryto diffuse the situation?

Have leaders of Jewish andArab communities been meeting?

- Well, what has taken place until now

is our police officers andthe commanders of the city

have met with the Mayor.

We're calling upon all of the residents

to take control of thesituation and be calm.

We're seeing that across thecity itself, for example,

both of the different entrances

and the areas of thedifferent neighborhoods,

we are asking the leadersalso to walk around with us

and be on the streets,get the message out.

It's not just a tacticalpolice effort on the ground

but it's also an importantleadership effort

that has to also take place by the mayor

and the leaders of theIsraeli Arab communities.

I can also confirm to youthat over the last 24 hours

the situation has calmed down somewhat

but a lot of policeactivities taking place.

Searching for weapons thatcould be inside apartments,

that could be used, and wewant to do everything possible

to make sure that there won'tbe anyone that will be killed

or majorly injured here inside the city,

both Jewish residents as wellas Israeli Arab residents.

- I can see the idea that beingconcerned, being in uniform

and being a target, whenyou're walking down the street,

anybody could potentiallycome and try to ram,

which has been happening.

It happened in Sheik Jarrah.

- That's right.

Our police officers areunder a constant threat.

You can see and look to theleft and look to the right

where you can see Jewishhouses, Arab houses,

the tensions are high

and our police officers areprotecting as much as possible.

But I also have to look around

and see what's going on on the ground.

Think about my own safety

in terms of what could happen here,

whether shots could befired from any given area.

We've seen that already this week.

Whether a vehicle could approach this area

and attack this area.

We've had vehicles that have been burnt.

We've had damage to property.

You can see also on thestreets, just behind us,

what is leftover from theburnt vehicles that there were

over here on the entrance of the car park.

So a lot of tensions.

And you can see our offices ahead of us

armed with only non-lethalweapons, as well,

in order to respond andgive a rapid response

by using stun grenades, if necessary

and every means to dealwith a full scale riot.

But you can see, thereare people looking around.

There are people watching

exactly where our movements are right now,

both me and you togetherwhen we're walking.

We have to keep oureyes open at the moment

'cause tensions are still high.

- And all this is happeningwhile rockets are falling

all over Central and South Israel

- That's correct.

The situation down Southfor the Israeli police,

were still responding to rocket attacks

that are taking place.

That is another important perspective

where our units are still responding to.

We saw just over the last few minutes

several rockets thatwere fired into Netivot,

a large city just about 42kilometers from the Gaza strip.

In Be'er Sheva as well,

we saw rockets that landed in Be'er Sheva

and unfortunately I can confirm

that over the last few minutes

also rockets that werelanded in the local community

where 10 people were injured

mostly Thailand workers, foreigners.

We know that at least oneperson, I can confirm,

unfortunately was killed thereand we have several others

that are being treated at the scene

and evacuated to the main hospitals.

So, a lot of police activities going on,

both down South dealing with the rockets

and the threats of Hamasand at the same time,

our border police unitsand special patrol units

that are responding inside thecities to keep the area safe.

- Many that I've talked, many Israelis

are almost more concernedabout these riots

and the disturbances than the rockets.

The rockets they've dealtwith for years but the riots,

talk about that.

About what this means for Israelis.

- Well, there is a complete breakdown

in the relationship betweenIsraeli Arabs and Israelis

and that is something

that has stemmed fromIsraeli Arabs, unfortunately,

and that is something

that we're going to have to deal with

over the next couple ofweeks, at least, ahead of us.

At the moment, in termsof police activities,

our units are locatedall across the country

from the North to theSouth, from Acre to Nahariya

in the Israeli Arabcommunities in the North,

Central Israel where we are at the moment,

as well as down South

all the way towards thearea of Be'er Sheva.

Geographically we're spreadout all across the country

but it's going to take time

to build up the relationship again.

It's going to take time inorder to improve the situation

but our main concern at the moment,

over the next 24 to 48 hours

as the Israeli IDF Gazaoperation is continuing

and we are dealing with the Hamas,

we are still seeing tensions inside Israel

and that's why there issuch a mass deployment.

- And how would you describeit to people that are outside,

what it's like to be livingunder constant rocket barrage?

4 million Israelis arenear or in bomb shelters.

- The situation is very serious indeed.

Rockets are coming down on major cities.

The iron dome is succeeding intaking down and intercepting

a large number of those rockets

but unfortunately whenyou have 120 Hamas rockets

being fired in towardsthe area of Tel Aviv,

there is no doubt therewill be one or two rockets

that will make their way andstrike the larger cities.

We've seen that.

And our units are the first responders,

our bomb disposal expertsthat arrive at the scene

help make sure that people are safe,

evacuate those that have beeninjured but it's a major issue

that we're dealing with, at the moment,

to have rockets landing inside the cities.

This is something that we aregoing to continue to deal with

over, at least, the next few days

as we're seeing the operation continuing

which is the correct stepand the right step to do.

As long as rockets are being fired

we need to continue to targetspecifically those terrorists

and we're working togetherand coordinating with the IDF

both around the Gaza strip,

as well as inside the major cities.

- A lot of people thatwatch this pray for Israel.

How would you recommend thatthey pray for the situation?

- Well, Israel is a strong country.

Israel has a humanitarian army.

We're praying for our soldiersand our security officers

in the Israeli national police,

they're doing everything toprotect and serve the country.

We've been through difficult times before,

we'll succeed in gettingthrough these times as well

and we're hoping thatwe'll be able to minimize

the number of casualties.

And that's what we're dealing with.

- Micky, we're here in Lod.

Why Lod and why now thatthese riots are taking place?

- We've seen a surge inthe Israeli Arab community

that all of a sudden havetaken to the streets,

something that's sparked off,

something that's had a snowball effect,

something that could have been prevented.

But unfortunately we've seen,

as soon as the Hamas startedfiring rockets into Israel,

into Jerusalem in fact,

we saw extremists fromthe Israeli Arab community

take upon the streets.

I think that they arecausing damage to themselves,

causing damage to themajority of the community,

because we know that themajority of the community

who are living just next toone another, door to door,

house to house, apartment to apartment,

they don't want to be involvedin full-scale incidents

but the extremists havetaken to the streets.

The extremist by themajority being Israeli Arabs,

extremists within theIsraeli Jewish community

who have gone on the streetsto protect themselves

but we are enforcing lawand order in every area

with emphasis on Lod,

where things have reallystemmed up over the last week.

- Was there any coordinationwith outside groups

and it was organized at all?

- We know and we've seenintentions of individuals

who have tried to maketheir way from outside Lod,

Israeli Arabs to come in andbe involved in the violence.

We've stopped buses

that have made their way fromthe North towards this era.

We've also stopped a numberof individuals and vehicles

from Jewish groups that have also come

and wanted to be involved in protecting.

The Israeli police are serving.

The Israeli police are protecting

as much as possible at anygiven time and our units,

who are located just aroundthese different areas

at every junction, literallyevery 20 to 30 meters,

can respond right now as we're talking

to any level or scale of violence.

- Thanks, Micky, appreciate it.