'Death to Arabs' sprayed on Palestinian vehicles in occupied East Jerusalem

JUNE 5, 2017 11:51 A.M. (UPDATED: JUNE 5, 2017 7:45 P.M.)

"Death to Arabs" painted in Hebrew (Israeli police spokesperson)

JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Suspected Israeli extremists vandalized a number of Palestinian-owned vehicles in occupied East Jerusalem overnight night Sunday, an Israeli police spokesperson reported, with at least one car being painted with the message "Death to Arabs" in Hebrew.

Luba al-Samri said in a written statement in Arabic that Israeli police were notified early Monday morning about cars being punctured and spray-painted with anti-Palestinian slogans. She said that the cars were parked in the "French Hill neighborhood," an illegal Israeli settlement, as well as the nearby "Hotels area" on Bar Lev street in northeastern Jerusalem.

According to reports in Hebrew-language media, the Palestinian owners of the vehicles had reported the incident to police.

Last month, racist and Islamophobic graffiti was sprayed on 17 vehicles in the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Shufat, with some of the messages saying "(Prophet) Muhammad is a pig" in Hebrew.

More recently, suspected Israeli extremists set fire to two vehicles and sprayed “price tag” graffiti on a building in the Palestinian town of Ara in northern Israel.

Many Palestinian activists and rights groups have accused Israel of fostering a “culture of impunity” for Israelis committing violent acts against Palestinians.

In March, Israeli NGO Yesh Din revealed that Israeli authorities served indictments in only 8.2 percent of cases of Israeli settlers committing anti-Palestinian crimes in the occupied West Bank in the past three years.

Between 500,000 and 600,000 Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in violation of international law, with recent announcements of settlement expansion provoking condemnation from the international community.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), there were a total of 107 reported settler attacks against Palestinians and their properties in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem in 2016. OCHA has recorded 56 such attacks since the beginning of the year.

http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=777493