Monday night, the tires of 28 cars parked on a street in the village of Abu Gosh, where Arab and Jewish families live, were punctured. The area was painted with graffiti messages saying: “Racism or Assimilation,” and “Arabs out.” Police began investigating the incident.
This is the first time that the a Tag Mechir (Price Tag) operation takes place in Abu Ghosh, a Christian Arab village with a rich history of supporting Jewish independence since before 1948, and the only Arab village that has kept its neutrality, even during the worst days of the Intifada.
“There is a small group of evil conspirators who want to generate a chain of hatred and violence between Arabs and Jews in our country. This group gives our enemies around the world the means with which to blacken our faces. We will not allow them to succeed.
“This week we gave police and the Shabac (GSS) wide powers to catch them.
“I urge the security forces to act strongly against this despicable phenomenon.”
News of the incident shocked local police. Police sources said this morning to Walla News: “If it was, indeed, an incident of nationalist crime, it damages the very fabric of co-existence and neighborly relations of Arabs and Jews in this friendly village. Police view this very seriously, and will devote great efforts, as it has done so far, to reaching the perpetrators, capturing them and bringing them to justice.”
Last week, on the night between Thursday and Friday, two vehicles were set on fire in a parking lot in the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, in East Jerusalem. A security camera recorded the ignition and the explosion. Both vehicles was damaged from the blast. The slogan Tag Mechir was spray painted on a nearby wall.
One day before the parking lot arson, the slogans Tag Mechir and Star of David symbols were spray painted on gravestones in a Christian-Orthodox cemetery in Jaffa. The tires of five parked car on a nearby street were punctured.