Radical Jews Suspected of Burning Mosque in Israel

JERUSALEM (AP) — Arsonists torched a mosque in an Arab village in northern Israel Monday, setting off protests by residents who clashed with police. Graffiti sprayed at the site suggested Jewish radicals, suspected in other recent mosque fires, were involved.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said carpet was burned inside the mosque in Tuba-Zangria and interior walls were damaged. Copies of the Quran, the Muslim holy book, were also burned, Israeli media reported.

Israel's prime minister, president and other politicians condemned the attack, as did Jewish religious leaders.

The words "price tag" were spray painted on the mosque, Rosenfeld added — a reference to a Jewish settler practice of attacking Palestinians or the Israeli military in retaliation for government operations or attacks against Jewish settlements.

Army Radio reported that the family name of a settler and his infant son killed last week in a car crash near the West Bank town of Hebron was scrawled on a wall of the mosque. Israeli police have said Palestinian rock-throwers struck the man in the head, causing him to lose control of the car.

An official at the mosque, Ali Zangria, told Army Radio that a villager detected smoke rising from the mosque around 2 a.m. and contacted police.

"But everything had already gone up in smoke by then," he said, ruing that his village had been singled out for attack. "The village is a quiet one and we always had good relations with Jewish residents."

Later in the day, Israel's chief rabbis, President Shimon Peres and Christian and Druse religious leaders visited the village to condemn the attack and express solidarity with residents.

In northern Israel, about 200 villagers from Tuba-Zangria marched toward a major intersection to protest the arson, intending to block the road, Rosenfeld said. Some demonstrators set tires on fire and stoned police officers, who dispersed the crowd with tear gas, he said. No one was injured and no arrests were reported.

There was no sign of unrest inside the village.

Security was heightened across northern Israel to prevent further disturbances and police met with village leaders in an effort to defuse tensions, Rosenfeld said.

Israeli Arabs account for one-fifth of Israel's population of 7.6 million, and many live in northern Israel.

The mosque was the third burned since the government destroyed structures in an unauthorized Jewish settlement outpost in the West Bank last month. An Israeli military base was also vandalized after the demolitions and threatening graffiti was sprayed at the apartment of a prominent Israeli settlement opponent. Jewish extremists are suspected in all of these incidents.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the mosque arson, and ordered the Shin Bet internal security agency to act quickly to locate the assailants. A text message from his office said he "was fuming when he saw the pictures" and said the attack "ran counter to the values of the state of Israel."

Most "price tag" actions are carried out in the West Bank, and attacks on mosques inside Israel are rarer.


Residents inspect damage caused by an arson attack on a mosque in the Bedouin Arab village of Tuba-Zangariyye, northern Israel, Monday, Oct, 3. 2011. Arsonists torched a mosque in an Arab village in northern Israel early Monday, setting off protests by villagers who later clashed with police. Graffiti sprayed at the site suggested Jewish radicals, suspected in other recent mosque fires, were involved.

Shin Bet: Threat of settler violence against Israeli officials rising in West Bank

Officials say right-wing extremists no longer need 'trigger' to take action, while targets of violence widening; extremists also trying to intimidate senior law enforcement officials.

The delegitimization campaign that extreme right-wing activists are conducting against civil servants could end in serious violence, according to warnings passed on to the political echelon by the Shin Bet security service.

Shin Bet officials have identified a radicalization in the phenomena that first emerged ahead of the disengagement from Gaza in 2004, and see a connection between them and the increased attacks on mosques and Palestinian property - actions that their perpetrators are defining as "a price tag."


A settler 'price tag' attack on a Peace Now activist's home in Jerusalem.


Shin Bet sources say members of the extreme right are making an effort to deter defense officials whose duties include coming into contact with such elements. The extremists are also trying to intimidate senior law enforcement officials, the Shin Bet sources add.

The two most prominent incidents in the past year have been the smear campaign conducted against Deputy Attorney General Shai Nitzan and the demonstrations held against the Israel Defense Forces' Judea and Samaria Division commander, Brig. Gen. Nitzan Alon.

The phenomena, however, stretch far further than these two matters, the Shin Bet says. Among other incidents, for example, the full names of officials from the Shin Bet's Jewish Division have been published on Internet websites, and their wives and children have been harassed at work and school. Civil Administration officials involved in keeping tabs on building violations have also been harassed.

According to the Shin Bet, the right-wing extremists no longer appear to need a "trigger" to take action, while the targets of the violence are also widening - military vehicles at an IDF base near Ramallah have been vandalized, and threatening graffiti has been sprayed onto the apartment door of a left-wing activist. Attacks on Arabs and their property are carried out when the opportunity arises, the Shin Bet officials add.

Defense establishment sources believe that some of the "price tag" attacks are being carried out by well-known right-wingers. Some two months ago, 12 right-wing extremists were ordered to stay out of the West Bank on the grounds that some of them had been involved in the torching of mosques. Restraining orders were issued because authorities have yet to collect enough evidence to press charges. None of the activists have sought to overturn the orders through the High Court of Justice.

Shin Bet officials believe that the acts of violence are being carried out by a few dozen individuals who are being supported by a circle of a few hundred right-wing activists. The vast majority of the settlers reject such actions, Shin Bet officials say.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/shin-bet-threat-of-settler-violence-against-israeli-officials-rising-in-west-bank-1.387765

Israel's President Shimon Peres said of the mosque burning: "This act...brings upon us heavy shame."

Baronvonrort wrote on Oct 5^th, 2011 at 9:24pm:


Baronvonrot suffers from hypocricy.

Soren wrote on Oct 6^th, 2011 at 6:44pm:


Everyone else laughs at you....

Jewish settlers in 'price-tag' hit on Israeli troops

TENSIONS in the West Bank have escalated as Jewish settlers stepped up their "price-tag" campaign against Palestinians and attacked Israeli troops for the first time in living memory.

The assault on Israeli soldiers came as an 18-year-old Jewish settler was arrested over the burning of a mosque and holy books in northern Israel.

Violence has increased since Jewish extremists were reported to have burnt the mosque in the northern Israeli town of Tuba Zangaria last Monday as part of their "price-tag" attack campaign.

This means the settlers attack Palestinians to punish them for actions they disapprove of - on this occasion in response to the Palestinians taking their bid for statehood to the UN.

They also use "price tag" often writing the words during an attack against Palestinians if the Israeli government or army does something they dislike, such as dismantling one of the illegal Jewish outposts in the West Bank.

In recent weeks, the hardline settlers have broadened the "price-tag" campaign to attacks on the Israeli army, including a raid on a military base in which they damaged 13 vehicles.

In the latest assault, settlers surrounded an Israeli patrol in the West Bank and began attacking the soldiers.

One of the soldiers was punched in the face. One settler was detained but later escaped into a Jewish outpost.

An Israeli Defence Forces spokeswoman, Lieutenant Colonel Avital Leibovich, told The Weekend Australian the soldiers on patrol were initially stopped by "a roadblock of rocks".

"I cannot remember the last time violent contact took place between settlers and soldiers," Colonel Leibovich said.

"It is disturbing, and we cannot accept this kind of hooligan behaviour."

The burning of the mosque on Monday shocked many Israelis - mosque burnings in the West Bank, which is under Israeli military occupation, have occurred before, but this was inside Israel and in a village where many members of the Bedouin community serve in the IDF.

Despite efforts by Israeli President Shimon Peres and Muslim and Christian leaders to call for calm, clashes have occurred in and around the Bedouin village since.

The 18-year-old arrested over the mosque arson was a student at a Yeshiva school in the settlement of Yitzhar.

This week, several olive groves have been cut down and burned...

The Haaretz newspaper said that in their campaign, the settlers were publishing on websites the full names of members of Shin Bet, Israel's secret security service, which are meant to be kept secret.


The paper said the extremists were trying to intimidate senior law-enforcement officials.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/jewish-settlers-in-price-tag-hit-on-israeli-troops/story-e6frg6so-1226161606479

In 90% of cases, the Isralis do nothing to stop the settlers. In fact, when the settlers attack Palestinian villages, the Israeli soldiers just watch and are only there to protect the Jewish settlers in case of Palestinians defending themselves.

The Israelis only take action in the most extreme cases so as to attempt to avoid international criticism.