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The Times (London)
December 13, 2012 Thursday
Edition 1; National Edition
'Price tag graffiti' despoils monastery and cemetery
by Sheera Frenkel
A Jerusalem monastery and an Armenian cemetery were daubed with
anti-Christian graffiti yesterday, in what Israeli police said was an
attack by right-wing extremists from West Bank settlements.
The slogans "Jesus is a son of a whore" and "Death to Christianity" on
the Monastery of the Cross were identified by nearby graffiti as
"price tag " - the broad name given to hate crimes by Israeli
extremists, usually against Palestinians and Arabs. The tyres of three
monastery cars were slashed.
Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, said that he was
"disgusted", adding: "The Jewish values by which we were raised, and
by which we raise our children, firmly reject such actions. Freedom of
worship for all religions in Israel will be preserved."
Such graffiti have spread beyond the West Bank and appeared at several
Christian sites.
A police spokesman confirmed that graffiti was "sprayed on the gates
of the entrance of the Armenian cemetery ... and on a monastery
belonging to the Greek Orthodox". He said that on Wednesday a car was
burnt and the graffiti "price tag" and "happy holidays" sprayed in
Shukba, a village on the West Bank.
Father Claudius, head of the monastery, said he noticed the graffiti
just before dawn when he got up to pray. "This is the seventh time
this has happened," he told reporters, saying that if the vandals had
knocked on the door he would have invited them in for tea to talk to
them about his faith.
After the arrest last week of three men in their twenties suspected of
burning a car and damaging other Palestinian property on the West
Bank, the Israeli High Court ruled not to allow them meet their
lawyers. The news website Ynet said the court was treating "price tag"
incidents as comparable to terrorism.
December 13, 2012 Thursday
Edition 1; National Edition
'Price tag graffiti' despoils monastery and cemetery
by Sheera Frenkel
A Jerusalem monastery and an Armenian cemetery were daubed with
anti-Christian graffiti yesterday, in what Israeli police said was an
attack by right-wing extremists from West Bank settlements.
The slogans "Jesus is a son of a whore" and "Death to Christianity" on
the Monastery of the Cross were identified by nearby graffiti as
"price tag " - the broad name given to hate crimes by Israeli
extremists, usually against Palestinians and Arabs. The tyres of three
monastery cars were slashed.
Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, said that he was
"disgusted", adding: "The Jewish values by which we were raised, and
by which we raise our children, firmly reject such actions. Freedom of
worship for all religions in Israel will be preserved."
Such graffiti have spread beyond the West Bank and appeared at several
Christian sites.
A police spokesman confirmed that graffiti was "sprayed on the gates
of the entrance of the Armenian cemetery ... and on a monastery
belonging to the Greek Orthodox". He said that on Wednesday a car was
burnt and the graffiti "price tag" and "happy holidays" sprayed in
Shukba, a village on the West Bank.
Father Claudius, head of the monastery, said he noticed the graffiti
just before dawn when he got up to pray. "This is the seventh time
this has happened," he told reporters, saying that if the vandals had
knocked on the door he would have invited them in for tea to talk to
them about his faith.
After the arrest last week of three men in their twenties suspected of
burning a car and damaging other Palestinian property on the West
Bank, the Israeli High Court ruled not to allow them meet their
lawyers. The news website Ynet said the court was treating "price tag"
incidents as comparable to terrorism.