'Bright tag' candles at 'price tag' scenes

Forum of 30 organizations will light candles each night of Hanukka at scenes of "price tag" attacks to "answer terror with light."

By MELANIE LIDMAN
'Tag Meir' anti-'price tag' candle lighting 311 (photo credit: Courtesy of 'Tag Meir')
'Tag Meir' anti-'price tag' candle lighting 311
(photo credit: Courtesy of 'Tag Meir')
Outraged by the wave of extremist attacks across the country over the past two weeks, more than 30 organizations have banded together during Hanukka to protest price-tag attacks and extremist violence.
Hundreds gathered on Tuesday night in front of the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem to light the first candle under the banner “Bright Tag: Light instead of Terror.”RELATED:PM: Ephraim attack 'a stain on Israeli democracy' Vandals 'insult' Muhammad in 'price-tag' attack “Bright tag,” or tag meir in Hebrew, is a play on the word “price tag” (tag mehir) attacks.
For the eight days of Hanukka, the Tag Meir group will light candles at recent scenes of price-tag attacks, including Asira Al Kabaliya next to the settlement of Yitzhar, Kfar Bukara, Tuba Zanghariya, Jaffa and others.
“Darkness is not answered by darkness,” said Peace Now’s Hagit Ofran at the candle lighting, whose home was attacked by price-tag vandals earlier this year. “Darkness will be expelled only with light. The government is ignoring the creation of Jewish terror,” she said.
Tag Meir is funded by the New Israel Fund and includes organizations such as the Peres Center for Peace; the Masorti Movement; the Reform Movement in Israel; the Kibbutz Movement; Peace Now; Rabbis for Human Rights; and Kolech: Religious Women’s Forum.
“I think that most people here were disgusted by the events of last week,” said Nir Yanovsky, a 29- year-old Jerusalem resident at the candle lighting on Tuesday. “Price tag attacks are the ugly face of Israel, and the government allows them, and in some instances is even encourages them. But the hundreds of people here warm my heart and show that pricetag attacks are not the only face of Israel.”
Yanovsky praised the diverse crowd, which included both secular and religious people, including a group from Kehilat Yediya Congregation in Jerusalem.
“This is not a leftist protest, and this shows something, it shows that opposition to these things isn’t a minority opinion,” he said.