'Price tag' in Old City; cars vandalized
Tires of five Arab-owned cars punctured, 'price tag' spray-painted on nearby wall. Anti-extremism group: Police unable to stop evil people operating all across Israel
Suspected "price tag" act: Unknown vandals punctured the tires of five vehicles parked on Ma'ale HaShalom Road in Jerusalem's Old City overnight Tuesday. The phrase "price tag" was spray-painted on a nearby wall.
"Price tag" refers to the strategy that Jewish extremists have adopted to exact a price in attacks on Palestinians in retribution for settlement freezes and demolitions, or for Palestinian attacks on Jews.
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The suspected "price tag" act in the Old City was the fifth in the past few days. Police have launched an investigation.
'Price tag' on wall in Old City (Photo: Gil Yohanan)
Tareq, an Arab whose vehicle was vandalized told Ynet: "Near us there are people I define as 'crazy settlers' who are committing terror here." His neighbor Amjad said, "There are young (Jewish) religious kids who cause trouble here. We tried talking to the rabbis in the area, but it didn't work out. No one cares. Eventually we will have to catch them and there will be violence."
(Photo: Gil Yohanan)
Police have received complaints regarding a series of acts against both Arabs and Jews. On Monday, the words "Allahu Akbar" (God is great in Arabic) were sprayed on a memorial for IDF paratroopers in east Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, and a day earlier two Jewish minors were detained on suspicion of vandalizing eight Palestinian vehicles in the same neighborhood.
(Photo: Gil Yohanan)
Over the holidays police claimed to have apprehended four youngsters while they were smashing tombstones in a Christian cemetery in Jerusalem.
Gadi Gvaryahu, the founder of Tag Meir, a coalition of groups working to counter Jewish extremism, said on Tuesday that the special Israel Police units are "unable to stop the evil people operating all across the State of Israel. Those who allow the kingdom of Yitzhar (Jewish settlement in the West Bank) to puncture the tires of vehicles belonging to the security forces are leading the State of Israel to disaster."
Figures presented by the Jerusalem District Police recently indicate a sharp rise in the number of "price tag" incidents in the capital. Fifty-six such incidents were recorded in 2012. The majority of the acts were directed against Palestinians.
Jerusalem District Police Commander Yossi Pariente said suspects were arrested in only 12 of the cases and not all of them were indicted.
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