The words tag mahir – price tag – and other nationalist slogans were
spray-painted on east Jerusalem cars on Sunday morning, in the latest attack by
vandals affiliated with the extreme fringe of the settlement
movement.
The assailants entered the neighborhood of Shuafat early Sunday
and spray-painted numerous cars and walls – not just with the by-now infamous
“price tag” but with a slew of other rightist slogans.
These included
“Death to the enemy,” “Freedom for the homeland” and hakipot hasrugot – “the
knitted skullcaps” – a reference not only to the national-religious movement,
but also apparently to a fledgling outpost that was evacuated last
week.
The assailants also wrote “Regards from Ettinger,” an apparent
reference to right-wing activist Meir Ettinger, indicted for tracking IDF
activity and collecting military information – as part of a brazen raid by
militant settlers on the Ephraim Territorial Brigade base last
December.
In addition to the graffiti, the perpetrators damaged six cars,
slashing some tires.
The attack follows a struggle between settlers and
IDF forces Thursday, in a national- religious outpost near Yitzhar in the West
Bank, after authorities razed three structures.
Some single men were
apparently living in at least one of the buildings. One settler was arrested for
violating a restraining order by which he had been banned from the
area.
Yitzhar settlers charge that the IDF acted with excessive
force.
“These slogans are all connected with previous incidents that have
taken place,” Israel Police Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
“Our police
arrived on the scene soon after the attack.
We believe that this is a
criminal incident with nationalist motives. A number of incidents of this sort
have taken place in Jerusalem, and also Latrun.
“Although the majority of
recent incidents were against Christian churches and organizations, we’re
looking into whether we can make any concrete connection with previous
incidents.”
Police are also investigating the possibility that the
vandalism attack came in response to the stabbing on Friday of a 34-year-old
Jewish man in Ras el-Amud.