Outraged by the wave of extremist attacks across the country over the past two
weeks, more than 30 organizations have banded together during Hanukka to protest
price-tag attacks and extremist violence.
Hundreds gathered on Tuesday
night in front of the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem to light the first
candle under the banner “Bright Tag: Light instead of Terror.”
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“Bright
tag,” or tag meir in Hebrew, is a play on the word “price tag” (tag mehir)
attacks.
For the eight days of Hanukka, the Tag Meir group will light
candles at recent scenes of price-tag attacks, including Asira Al Kabaliya next
to the settlement of Yitzhar, Kfar Bukara, Tuba Zanghariya, Jaffa and
others.
“Darkness is not answered by darkness,” said Peace Now’s Hagit
Ofran at the candle lighting, whose home was attacked by price-tag vandals
earlier this year. “Darkness will be expelled only with light. The government is
ignoring the creation of Jewish terror,” she said.
Tag Meir is funded by
the New Israel Fund and includes organizations such as the Peres Center for
Peace; the Masorti Movement; the Reform Movement in Israel; the Kibbutz
Movement; Peace Now; Rabbis for Human Rights; and Kolech: Religious Women’s
Forum.
“I think that most people here were disgusted by the events of
last week,” said Nir Yanovsky, a 29- year-old Jerusalem resident at the candle
lighting on Tuesday. “Price tag attacks are the ugly face of Israel, and the
government allows them, and in some instances is even encourages them. But the
hundreds of people here warm my heart and show that pricetag attacks are not the
only face of Israel.”
Yanovsky praised the diverse crowd, which included
both secular and religious people, including a group from Kehilat Yediya
Congregation in Jerusalem.
“This is not a leftist protest, and this shows
something, it shows that opposition to these things isn’t a minority opinion,”
he said.
