New York, NY, May 1, 2014 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today strongly condemned the spate of “Price Tag” attacks in Israel, welcomed the commitment of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pursue the perpetrators, and called on Israeli law enforcement to enhance crackdown efforts against those responsible.
The so-called Price Tag attacks are carried out by extremist Israeli Jews against Israeli Arabs, Palestinians and occasionally other Jews, and frequently target Muslim and Christian religious sites as a form of “retribution” for Israeli government action in the settlements as well as political decisions taken with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The attacks generally involve vandalism of property and the spray-painting of hateful and racist messages directed at the price tag targets.
Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, issued the following statement:
We deplore the recent spate of price tag attacks in Israel, a number of which have targeted Muslim and Christian religious sites. These heinous actions are antithetical to Jewish values and those responsible - both for inciting and committing the attacks - must be identified and stopped.
We welcome the commitment of Prime Minister Netanyahu to pursue those behind the attacks. However, we share the frustration of many Israelis about the lack of progress thus far in apprehending and bringing the perpetrators to justice. Price tag attacks represent a growing disregard for the law by Jewish extremists, and vigorous and ongoing action by Israeli law enforcement officials is needed to quell these abhorrent acts of hate.
A full, unabated crackdown against price tag perpetrators would be a clear demonstration of Israel’s zero-tolerance policy towards all types of racism and hatred.
In April, there were several recorded price tag attacks across Israel, including incidents against Muslim and Christian religious sites.
ADL has voiced concern and condemned past attacks - including most recently after a round of incidents in Abu Ghosh - and called on Israeli government and law enforcements officials to take concrete steps to bring those responsible to justice.