Smoke bomb thrown at Palestinian house during suspected 'price tag' attack

"I don't inflict any damage on anyone, I want to live in peace," says victim.

DECEMBER 22, 2015 09:02

Updated: DECEMBER 23, 2015 06:42

Scene of suspected price tag attack in Beitillu‏

Tear gas canisters were thrown early Tuesday morning into a Palestinian home in the West Bank village of Beitillu northwest of Ramallah, in an apparent “price-tag” attack.

A couple and their nine-month-old baby were sleeping in the home at the time of the attack, but were not injured by the tear gas.

Around 1:30 a.m. vandals, presumed to be Jewish extremists, broke the kitchen window and threw two tear gas canisters inside.

They also spray painted the Hebrew words “Revenge” and “Regards from the detainees of Zion” on the walls of a neighbor’s home.

The head of the village council, Hisham al-Bazzar, said the grenades that were tossed through one of the windows nearly killed Hussein al-Najar, 30, his wife and nine-month-old son, Karam.

“I heard the sound of the glass when it broke and they threw two tear gas grenades inside the home.

It was smoky inside. They also wrote slogans in Hebrew. I put my wife and children in one room and I called my brother and neighbors. We were dizzy. We hardly opened the door and they rescued us,” al-Najar said.

He told Israel Radio that he did not catch a glimpse of the culprits who vandalized his home. “They threw the smoke bomb and fled, but we now have soldiers and members of the police force in our home.”

Al-Najar said his home has been targeted before. “This was not the first, or the second time,” he said.

“Our neighbor’s car was burned.”

He asked that the government and security forces work to ensure similar incidents don’t occur in the future.

“I don’t inflict any damage on anyone, I want to live in peace,” he said.

Police, along with the National Crimes Unit, are investigating the possibly that the perpetrators were Jewish extremists exacting revenge against Palestinians in reaction to arrests by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) of suspects in the July firebombing of a Palestinian home in the West Bank village of Duma.

Sa’ad Dawabshe, 31, his wife, Reham, 27, and their 18-month-old son, Ali, were killed in that attack.

A spokesman for the Zionist Union issued a statement condemning Tuesday morning’s hate crime.

“We must track down and punish the culprits who committed Tuesday’s ‘price tag’ hate crime in a Palestinian home,” the statement read.

“Terrorism is terrorism is terrorism.”

Reuters and Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report.