Masked vandals damaged light rail cars stored in Spain before their planned shipment to Israel, according to a report by the Spanish news site Noticias de Gipuzkoa.
Footage from Spain: Purple Line cars vandalized
The incident occurred about a week and a half ago in the Navarra region of northern Spain, where the cars were being held before being sent to Israel for use in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area’s light rail network.
According to the report, the suspects smeared red paint on the front of the cars and broke windows in what they described as a protest for “freedom, equality and justice for Palestine.”
The cars are manufactured in the Basque Country in northern Spain. The Spanish report said they were intended for the Green Line, which is planned to run from Rishon Lezion to Herzliya and back. In fact, the cars are meant for the Purple Line, which will reach Yehud-Monosson and is expected to open earlier. The vandalism could delay their shipment to Israel.
Footage from the scene shows the suspects wearing hoodies that conceal their faces as they enter through a breach in a fence, apparently cut specifically to allow access. They locate the cars bearing Hebrew lettering and vandalize them. On some of the cars, they spray-painted the words "Israel suntsitu", a phrase in Basque that translates to "destroy Israel".
The Purple Line was originally planned to open in 2027, but in February last year, the Metropolitan Mass Transit System company, known as NTA, and the Transportation Ministry said the goal was to launch the full line, from the Ono Valley to Tel Aviv, only in about two years, in July 2028.
The line is expected to include 46 stations linking Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, Kiryat Ono, Givat Shmuel, Or Yehuda and Yehud-Monosson.