Three people, including a heavily pregnant woman, suffered severe burns and smoke inhalation on Tuesday night in what Israeli police are calling a racist attack.

Micky Rosenfeld of the Israeli police reported that there was an arson attack on an apartment in west Jerusalem on Wednesday night. Three Eritrean’s were seriously injured in the attack. One suffered severe burns while two others were being treated for smoke inhalation.

There has been a sharp increase in racist attacks and demonstrations by Israelis in recent months. There have been riots in Tel Aviv and many asylum seekers have been beaten and abused on the street. In another arson attack in June, four migrants were injured when their home was set ablaze and racist graffiti sprayed on the walls.

Right wing Israelis see immigrants from Africa and elsewhere as a possible threat to maintaining Israel as a jewish majority state. They have called on the government to deport asylum seekers.

Their sentiments are widely supported in the Israeli government. Earlier in June Interior Minister Eli Yishai, in an interview with Maariv newspaper, stated "The infiltrators along with the Palestinians will quickly bring us to the end of the Zionist dream," adding "Muslims that arrive here do not even believe that this country belongs to us, to the white man."