Mosque set alight in apparent 'price tag' attack

Perpetrators graffiti "Mitzpe Yitzhar" and "war" on W. Bank mosque hours after buildings dismantled in illegal outpost; Livni slams PM's handling of right wing extremists.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Mosque attack in Kfar Burka 311 (photo credit: Courtesy of Btselem)
Mosque attack in Kfar Burka 311
(photo credit: Courtesy of Btselem)
A mosque was set alight Thursday morning in Kfar Burka in Binyamin. Carpets and chairs in the mosque were damaged and the IDF opened an investigation into the incident.
Graffiti on the mosque walls saying "Mitzpe Yitzhar" and "war" indicates that the attack was a  'price tag' response to the dismantling of  two buildings in the illegal Mitzpe Yitzhar outpost several hours earlier.
RELATED:Analysis: Time to create deterrence
Arson, 'price tag' suspected at J'lem mosque
Meanwhile, opposition leader Tzipi Livni (Kadima) responded to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's announcement Wednesday night of new measures to address recent extreme right-wing escalations.
Netanyahu either doesn't understand, or doesn't want to deal with extremist ideology, said opposition leader Livni in a statement. Netanyahu had stated that Jews rioting in the West Bank will now be tried in military courts like Palestinians. However, he rejected calls by ministers to class suspects as terrorists.
 
"There is a struggle for Israel's image," said Livni in a statement. "To this struggle, an extreme right-wing coalition is teaming up with a number of rabbis who want to impose a 'Halachic [Jewish law] state', and young people who are trying to impose their ideology on us, the Zionist majority."
"We, the Zionist majority, should all stand on the other side of this struggle. We must fight for the character and nature of Israel," she continued.
"This government... is laying fertile ground for these tumors. When Netanyahu says that we are dealing with rioters and not ideological crime, it indicates one of two things - either he doesn't understand what is happening here, or he doesn't want to deal with this extremist ideology because of his natural coalition partners," Livni asserted.