Suspected ‘price tag’ vandalism near Nablus

Vandals spray-painted a house and set two Palestinian vehicles ablaze in a suspected price tag attack Monday night in Far’ata village southwest of Nablus.

The graffiti consisted of a slogan and a Star of David, and one of the vehicles was a car and the other a truck, according to Israeli news source Yedioth Ahronoth.

The IDF is investigating the incident, but has yet to make any arrests.

“Such incidents undermine the security stability in the region and distract the IDF from its primary mission,” security officials said.

Price tag attacks, acts of vandalism usually performed against Arab property and typically carried out by Jewish nationalists in retribution for government moves against the settler community, have become increasingly common in recent years. Mosques, churches, dovish Israeli groups and even Israeli military bases have been targeted in such attacks.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon announced in July that planning and carrying out price tag attacks will be defined as “illegal organizing,” giving law enforcement the same tools to fight them as they do Islamic terror groups.

Former Shin Bet security agency director Carmi Gillon warned in early September that if current peace talks with the Palestinians make progress, “the next Yigal Amir [the assassin of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin] will emerge from among the people who stand behind price tag attacks.”