OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Suspected Jewish extremists slashed the tyres of some 30 Palestinian cars and sprayed racist slogans in Hebrew in a neighbourhood of annexed East Jerusalem, police said on Wednesday.
The attack took place in Sharafat, a Palestinian neighbourhood in the southern sector of East Jerusalem, with the attackers spraying “No coexistence” and “Arabs = thieves” on walls.
A similar attack took place on February 10 when suspected Jewish extremists punctured the tyres of 19 vehicles in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Ein Aluza just south of the Old City, and daubed the site with racist anti-Arab graffiti in Hebrew.
Both incidences of vandalism bore the hallmarks of a “price tag” attack, a euphemism for hate crimes that generally target Palestinians.
Initially carried out in retaliation for state moves to dismantle unauthorised settler outposts, the attacks have become a much broader phenomenon targeting non-Jews and anyone seen as hostile to the settlers.
Earlier this month, three settlers were indicted for a November arson attack on two Palestinian vehicles, but in the vast majority of cases, the authorities have failed to catch and prosecute those involved, who are largely understood to be young Jewish extremists.
