In suspected hate crime, vandals attempt to set fire to West Bank mosque
Graffiti on wall in Jamma’in reads, ‘Jews won’t be silent when we are murdered’; cars vandalized in East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah; suspects break car windows in Mukhmas
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
Palestinians in the West Bank town of Jamma’in woke up Thursday morning to discover their town had been targeted in an apparent hate crime, including a suspected attempt to set fire to a mosque.
A slogan reading “Jews will not be silent when we are murdered” was graffitied on a nearby wall, along with a Star of David, according to images from the scene.
There was slight damage to the mosque in the arson attempt.
The Israel Police said forces were preparing to enter the town to collect evidence and open an investigation into the attack.
Jamma’in is located in the northern West Bank, near the settlement of Ariel.
Separately, the tires of at least ten cars belonging to Arab residents of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah were slashed overnight Wednesday. Police opened an investigation into that incident as well.
Meanwhile, several suspects said to be Israeli settlers were seen shattering the windows of cars and hurling stones at homes in the Palestinian town of Mukhmas, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, overnight Tuesday. The incident was only announced on Thursday.
תיעוד: נערים נכנסים לכפר מוח'מאס בבנימין אתמול לפנות בוקר (מיד אחרי הפיגוע בבאר שבע) ומנפצים שמשות רכבים לאורך הכפר pic.twitter.com/I5crzQWNL1
— שחר גליק (@glick_sh) March 24, 2022
Incidents of vandalism against Palestinians and Israeli security forces are commonly referred to as “price tag” attacks, with perpetrators claiming that they are retaliation for Palestinian violence or government policies seen as hostile to the settler movement.
The incidents come after four Israelis were killed in a terror attack in Beersheba on Tuesday, by an Arab Israeli man from the Bedouin town of Hura.
