These photos are very misleading to the average IME reader. One would assume that the typical Israeli is dressed in religious garb from the Middle Ages and is celebrating the Jewish festivals of Yom Kippur and Sukkot by mercilessly slaughtering chickens.

The fact remains that the Jerusalem neighborhood of Mea Shearim is a bastion of anti-Israel hatred directed at Israel by extremist ultra-Orthodox Jews. Included among the ranks of Mea Shearim's residents are members of the extremist sect "Neturei Karta", whose leaders met with Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and like Ahmadinejad, also call for Israel's destruction.

CNN should have showed how normal Israelis were celebrating the holidays. The holiday of Sukkot is meant to commemorate the the time spent in the desert when Moses led the Jews out of slavery in Egypt and into the Promised Land of Israel. On Sukkot, it is customary to build a small hut where each family will eat their meals outdoors. Some religious families choose to sleep in the hut for the week long festival as well. It will be interesting to see if the UN and other agencies will accuse Israel of building so-called "illegal Israeli settlements".

On Yom Kippur, almost all Israelis (apart from the few ultra-Orthodox extremists) were wearing normal clothes that look nothing like the people portrayed in these photos. However, even some of the most secular Israelis fasted (no food or water for 25 hours) and went to synagogue to atone for their sins on Judaism's holiest day of the year. 35 years ago, Israel was invaded by Egypt and Syria on Yom Kippur in a sneak attack when Israeli soldiers were fasting and praying at their synagogues resulting in the deaths of approximately 2,700 Israeli soldiers and countless civilians. While there were hopes for a peaceful Yom Kippur this year, all that was destroyed by the actions of one Arab man.

Why did CNN not mention the daily riots going on in the city of Acre, which previously was seen as a city of peace and coexistence for its Jewish and Arab residents?! The riots were started after an Arab driver purposely drove into a Jewish neighborhood and started blasting music and making noise disturbing the residents who were celebrating the holiest Jewish holiday of the year, Yom Kippur, a day of fasting and repentence. (Driving is banned on Yom Kippur). If a Jewish driver would have driven into a Muslim neighborhood on Ramadan and done the same thing, he would have been lynched.

When the Arab driver was confronted by Jewish residents, some Muslim extremists called for arson, looting, and violence. As well as incitement coming from the local mosque, an Arab member of the Knesset (Israeli parliament) was also among those inciting the rioters.

What initially should have ended with the arrest of the Arab driver, instead ended in the destruction of homes and shops of the city's Jewish and Arab residents. While the damage to the homes and shops will eventually be repaired, it is unclear whether the once peaceful relationship between Acre's Jewish and Arab residents will ever be repaired.

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