(JTA) — A mosque near Nablus was damaged in a fire and vandalized in an attack that area residents blamed on Jewish extremists.
The fire damaged the lower story of the mosque in the village of Akraba near the West Bank city, Army Radio reported Tuesday based on interviews with residents.
“The lower story was completely torched and someone spray-painted ‘price tag’ and ‘Kahane was right’ on the walls,” Zakaria Sada of Nablus told Army Radio, noting the graffiti was in Hebrew.
Police are investigating, Army Radio reported.
“Hate crime doesn’t begin to describe what I’m seeing,” Sada said. “I think this a serious act of terrorism.”
Jewish extremists have used the “price tag” graffiti as their calling card in attacks on Arab-owned real estate that they targeted as revenge for attacks on settlers and other Israelis. The slogan is featured as well in vandalism against Israel Defense Forces equipment.
Rabbi Meir Kahane was an Israeli far-right politician and a founder of the Jewish Defense League. He was murdered by an Egyptian terrorist in 1990 in his native New York City.
