Hate crime: Israelis target mosques

TEQOA, Palestinian Territories: Vandals scrawled threats on two mosques in a West Bank village in the latest hate crime by suspected Jewish extremists, a official said yesterday.
“Settlers came in the middle of the night and wrote threats in Hebrew on the walls of two mosques and slashed the tires of a car,” said Adel Al-Shaer, a councillor for Teqoa village east of Bethlehem.
At one site in Teqoa, the attackers scrawled: “Adele Biton’s revenge” and “Price tag for throwing stones,” and drew two Stars of David around the front entrance with the words: “Regards from Adele,” a reporter said.
Police spokeswoman Luba Samri confirmed details of the attack, but said that two cars in the village had had their tires slashed.
Villagers threw stones at police and troops sent to the village to investigate the crimes, damaging some of their vehicles, she added.
Such incidents are known as “price tag” attacks, a euphemism for hate crimes against Palestinians by Israeli extremists.
The attacks began in response to Israeli government moves to dismantle unauthorized settler outposts, but over the past 18 months they have targeted anyone seen as hostile to Jewish settlers.