Supermarket chain owner Rami Levy said he will continue employing Arabs in his stores, despite a stabbing attack in one of his stores yesterday.

In an interview with Israeli army radio, Levy said:

I get requests from extremist elements asking me not to employ Arabs. Occasionally, they are even threatening to boycott my stores if I will employ Arabs. I want to tell anyone who threatens me that if I will employ people because of their color, religion or nationality they would not come to buy at my stores—he is not threatening me.

The Rami Levy chain has been cited as a model of coexistence between Jews and Arabs, as both groups shop and work there side-by-side.

A 16-year-old Arab, previously unknown to the Israeli security services, stabbed two people and wounded them inside the supermarket in Mishor Adumim, near Jerusalem. An off-duty security guard near the entrance to the store opened fire at the perpetrator, wounding him.

Later, it was reported that the security guard is an employee at the Prime Minister’s Office. In his remarks on the attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated, “I know the security guard from his work in the office. I told him that we are all proud of him.

The mayor of nearby Maaleh Adumim, Benny Kashriel, stressed although there would be inevitable demands for Palestinians to be banned from the Mishor Adumim industrial zone, he was committed to ensuring that they continue to work and make a decent living.

[Photo: Nissan Lahat Kunz / YouTube ]