On Saturday, former Shin Bet head Carmi Gillon accused the Shin Bet and the Netanyahu government of intentionally leaving price tag hate crime attacks against Arabs unsolved – something many international observers and peace activists have long contended to be true. "We don't see results, because we're not intended to see them. There's no such thing as 'can't do' in the Shin Bet, just 'don't want,'" Gilon said.
File photo: price tag attack
As Anti-Arab Price Tag Attacks Multiply, Ex-Shin Bet Head Accuses Government Of Covering Up For The Racist Jewish Attackers
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
An Israeli Arab, Hassan Sobach, is the latest victim of a "price tag” attack, Ynet reported.
Sobach’s car was painted with the phrase “price tag” and a Star of David and its tires were slashed at a parking lot near Nahal Hashofet in the north of Israel on Saturday.
"I came with my family to tour the area. We had a good time, but the end of the day was very disappointing. The situation is bad; we hear about price tags on a daily basis and there is no one to stop the perpetrators,” Sobach told Ynet. "The sad part is that it could happen repeatedly. It's about time someone stopped these lawbreakers.”
Ha’aretz reported that 35 olive trees were destroyed near the West Bank settlement of Bat Ayin, also on Saturday. Graffiti was painted reading "Arabs are thieves" and "price tag.”
There have been several other price tag attacks in recent weeks, most in the West Bank but some, like the one against Sobach's car, inside Israel proper.
Several days ago, 58 olive trees were reportedly severely damaged in Ras Karkar, northwest of Ramallah.
Tuesday, tires on dozens of Arab-owned vehicles were slashed in the Arab village of Fureidis. The village mosque was also defaced. A Star of David and the phrase “Close mosques, not yeshivas” was spray-painted on its wall and the mosque’s door was set on fire.
In Yokneam, Arab and Druze cars and buildings have been attacked in similar ways.
Thursday, members of the Islamic Movement reportedly found graffiti and a Star of David sprayed painted in an ancient Muslim cemetery near Nesher on the grave of Izz ad-Din al-Qassam.
On Wednesday, police arrested two men from the radical West Bank settlement of Yitzhar for allegedly setting the mosque in Umm al-Fahm on fire. The mosque was also painted with price tag graffiti, including the phrase “Arabs out!”
But even in the rare instances when police have made arrests in similar cases, few actually lead to prosecution and, of those that do, the courts have tended to allow the perpetrators to walk free or to serve very small prison sentences.
On Wednesday, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni will convene an emergency meeting with representatives of the State Prosecutor’s Office, Israel Police and the Shin Bet internal security service to try to deal with the expansion of these racist price tag attacks into Israel proper.
"We'll not let these cowardly criminals evade justice. Those who exploit Israel's complicated situation to incite hate and violence must be apprehended and punished. The price tag criminals are witnesses for the prosecution in the international trial against Israel. My Israeli flag, which I will hoist this week [on Israel Independence Day] with great pride, is not the flag they spray over scorched mosques. As justice minister I'll do the utmost to eradicate these crimes,” Livni said, reportedly adding that hate crimes must be fought in the same way terror is.
On Saturday, former Shin Bet head Carmi Gillon accused the Shin Bet and the Netanyahu government of intentionally leaving price tag hate crime attacks against Arabs unsolved – something many international observers and peace activists have long contended to be true.
"We don't see results, because we're not intended to see them. There's no such thing as 'can't do' in the Shin Bet, just 'don't want,'" Gilon said.