Tires slashed in suspected racist attack

The tires of three cars were found punctured, and four others deflated, in a suspected racist tag attack in an Israeli-Arab East Jerusalem neighborhood Monday.

Two of the vehicles in Beit Hanina were covered in graffiti bearing the words “revenge” and “every Arab is the enemy.”

The police opened an investigation into the attack.

The incident bore the hallmarks of “price tag,” acts of vandalism and other hate crimes usually carried out by Jewish ultra-nationalists. Mosques, churches, dovish Israeli groups and even Israeli military bases have been targeted by nationalist vandals in recent years. The acts have been condemned by Israeli leaders across the political spectrum.

In the most recent attack on June 19, the words “price tag” and “Death to Arabs” were found inscribed at a Haifa Arab-Israeli school, as was invective against MK Hanin Zoabi. Police were also investigating whether the perpetrators of the act had attempted to torch the building, as several burn marks were found on the school’s walls.

Zoabi stirred up controversy last Tuesday when she stated that the kidnappers of three Israeli teens in the West Bank last week were not terrorists. Eyal Yifrach, 19, Naftali Fraenkel, 16, and Gil-ad Shaar, 16, were kidnapped June 12 south of Jerusalem. They were last seen at a hitchhiking post in the Etzion Bloc at around 10 p.m. The Israeli government has pointed a finger at Hamas and said that it holds the Palestinian Authority responsible for their well-being.