Mayor: Israeli settlers vandalize dozens of Palestinian cars in West Bank hate crime
A group of Israeli settlers have vandalized dozens of cars in a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank, in what Palestinian authorities described as hate crime.
The settlers destroyed some 35 cars and spray-painted threatening slogans in Hebrew on the Palestinian-owned vehicles.
The attack occurred overnight in the village of Kafr Qassem, Mayor Adel Badir said on Thursday.
He described the attackers as "the most extreme group of terrorists.”
Badir said it resembled "price tag" attacks, a euphemism for Jewish nationalist hate crimes that target Palestinians in alleged retaliation for attacks against Israelis.
Israeli police said they had received a report of the punctures in the village and that one car was tagged with the slogan "to expel or to kill.”
They said no one was hurt in the attack, and that the “circumstances of the incident are being examined.”
They, however, did not clarify whether any arrests were made.
Badir called on "police to respond firmly to these extremists.”
"As long as there are no arrests and no one pays a price for these things, they will continue in Arab villages.”
He said the village has been targeted by Israeli settlers, at least six times in recent years.
Israeli settlers raid Palestinian villages in so-called “price tag” attacks that are acts of vandalism and violence against Palestinian properties, as well as Muslim holy sites.
The latest incident came just two days after Israel's far-right candidate Itamar Ben-Gvir was poised to enter parliament after the Religious Zionism alliance he belongs to won six seats in Tuesday's election.
Ben-Gvir, who has defended "price tag" suspects, once described as a "hero" a Jewish extremist settler from New York who massacred Palestinian worshipers almost three decades ago.
Ben-Gvir, backed by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has a history of encouraging violence against Palestinians in the occupied territories.
More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.
All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law.
Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent state with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital.
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