Molotov cocktail thrown at monastery outside Beit Shemesh

None hurt in apparent price tag attack; assailants write "revenge" and "goyim perish" on monastery walls.

By BEN HARTMAN, JPOST.COM STAFF
Price tag attack on Dormition Abbey 370 (photo credit: Courtesy Dormition Abbey)
Price tag attack on Dormition Abbey 370
(photo credit: Courtesy Dormition Abbey)
A Molotov cocktail was thrown and graffiti sprayed at the Beit Jimal monastery outside Beit Shemesh on Tuesday night.
No injuries or damage were reported.
Police said that the graffiti included the words ‘Revenge’ and “Goyim perish,” sprayed in Hebrew on the monastery walls.
Police were investigating the circumstances of the incident, including the possibility that the attack was nationalistically motivated.
MK Rabbi Dov Lipman (Yesh Atid) visited the monastery after hearing about the desecration of the building.
He presented flowers to a representative of the nuns, expressing apologies and outrage for what had occurred.
“This act runs counter to the Jewish way. As a resident of Beit Shemesh, we appreciate your neighborly friendship. It is critical that we live in peace and respect with those who hold different beliefs. I hope the police will catch the perpetrators very soon and that justice will be served,” Lipman said.
The nun receiving Lipman responded by saying, “Your coming today reinforced our belief that these people who did this do not represent the Jewish people. Having a member of the government who is also a rabbi and a neighbor come truly warms the heart.”
In May, staff at Dormition Abbey on Mount Zion in Jerusalem reported that offensive Hebrew-language graffiti was sprayed and church property was destroyed, in an attack suspected to have been committed by supporters of Jewish settlement.
“The Christians are apes” and “the Christians are slaves” was spray-painted on two cars parked outside the abbey.
In December 2012, vandals spray-painted “Jesus is a monkey” on the wall of the 19th-century Latrun Monastery west of Jerusalem and torched the structure’s front door.