E. J'lem cars vandalized in suspected far-right attack

Vandals puncture tires of 7 cars in Palestinian refugee camp in east Jerusalem, spray-pain "Ulpana" on one.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN, MELANIE LIDMAN
Price tag Shuafat refugee camp 370 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Price tag Shuafat refugee camp 370
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Seven cars in the Arab neighborhood of Shuafat in east Jerusalem were vandalized overnight on Monday in a suspected far-right attack.
The vandals slashed tires and spray-painted the word “Ulpana” – the name of the West Bank outpost, part of which is slated for demolition – on one of the cars.
It was the second suspected politically motivated hate crime against property linked to the Ulpana outpost in recent days.
Such attacks peak after the state dismantles illegal outposts, and police are preparing for the possibility of many more incidents following the demolition of buildings in Ulpana, expected in the coming weeks.
A national police taskforce set up to coordinate action against suspects and gather intelligence is working out of police headquarters in Jerusalem.
While individual police districts investigate each incident in their areas, the national taskforce, which is a part of the elite Lahav police unit, has access to special resources, and works with other security forces to coordinate efforts.
Police view the vandalism as serious disturbances, and dispatch members of the Lahav taskforce to each incident to gather forensic materials and put together an intelligence picture.
The unit operates under the police’s Investigations and Intelligence Branch, which is headed by Cmdr. Yoav Seglovitch.
“We are not just responding to these incidents. We are also preventing them, by stepping up patrols in areas such as Judea and Samaria,” police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
Early on Friday morning, residents of the Neveh Shalom, a village inhabited jointly by Jews and Arabs near Beit Shemesh, awoke to find that suspected right-wing extremists had slashed the tires of 14 cars and spray-painted anti-Arab messages on the elementary school, public buildings and three cars.
The vandals wrote “Revenge,” “Regards from Ulpana,” “Death to Arabs” and “Kahane was right.”