Vehicles vandalized in apparent hate crime attack in Arab town
Bus and truck set alight, 3 others daubed with graffiti in ‘price tag’ incident two days after deadly Tel Aviv terror shooting
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
Five vehicles were vandalized Friday in an Arab town in northern Israel, in an apparent “price tag” hate crime attack by right-wing extremists, two days after a Palestinian terror attack in Tel Aviv killed four people.
A bus and a truck at a car dealership in the Lower Galilee town of Yafa an-Naseriyye, near Nazareth, were set on fire, while three other vehicles were spray-painted with the words “price tag” and “revenge.”
Police officers attended the scene, collected evidence and launched an investigation into the incident, the Walla news website reported. A gag order was placed on the details of the investigation.
So-called price tag attacks, usually arson and graffiti, have previously been carried out by Jewish extremists against non-Jews as revenge for actions by Israeli officials as well as following terror attacks. Friday’s incident came two days after two gunmen opened fire at the Sarona food market in the center of Tel Aviv, killing four and badly wounding three others.
כתובות הנאצה שרוססו ביפיע @10elilevi pic.twitter.com/9qwaiEIBjs
— חדשות 13 (@newsisrael13) June 10, 2016
On Thursday, Hebrew and Arabic graffiti was also sprayed on a wall in the Arab town of Abu Ghosh, just outside Jerusalem, police said. The graffiti read “price tag” and “Arabs out.” An investigation was launched into the incident.
Israel officially classifies price tag attacks as terrorist acts. Mosques, churches, dovish Israeli groups and even Israeli military bases have been targeted in such assaults.
In a report last year, the US State Department alleged that Israel has not been adequately prosecuting perpetrators of price tag attacks, a claim rejected as “a gross, incorrect generalization” by Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan.
AFP contributed to this report
The Times of Israel Community.