Israeli charged over arson attack on Africa migrants

An Israeli man has been charged with arson in what most would also call a hate crime after he threw Molotov cocktails at the homes of African migrants in south Tel Aviv, highlighting a sharp rise in tension between locals and immigrants.

According to the indictment, which was handed down on Thursday and widely quoted in the Israeli press, Haim Mula threw seven Molotov cocktails at several apartments in the city's Shapira neighbourhood in late April.

The attack caused heavy damage but no injuries, although it has sparked a heated debate over the rising tide of African nationals arriving in the Jewish state, many of them from Sudan and Eritrea.

Some are asylum seekers fleeing persecution, while others are economic migrants. Almost all of them sneak across the border from the Egyptian Sinai and end up living in the run-down neighbourhoods around Tel Aviv's central bus station.