Attackers spraypainted anti-Christian graffiti in Hebrew on a
Franciscan monastery just outside Jerusalem's Old City, the church and
Israeli police said on Tuesday, in an apparent "price-tag" hate crime.
Photos on a church website showed blue graffiti scrawled on the
monastery's front door denigrating Jesus, the central figure in
Christianity, and adding the words "price tag" -- a euphemism for
revenge hate crimes by Israeli extremists.
The graffiti had been removed by mid-morning, an AFP photographer at the scene said.
Israeli police confirmed the incident.
"What took place is that a church on Mount Zion was targeted. On it
was written graffiti against Christianity, and 'price tag,' and now
we're investigating the incident," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld
said.
"It happened during the early hours of the morning," he added.
"Price tag" is a term given to hate crimes carried out by Israeli
extremists, normally targeting Palestinians and Arabs and often
involving the torching and vandalism of cars, mosques and olive trees.
But attacks have widened in scope in recent months, and have also
targeted the Israeli army, Israeli anti-settlement activists and several
churches.
Last month, vandals burnt the door of a Catholic monastery west of Jerusalem, scrawling anti-Christian graffiti on its walls.
The incident targeted the Trappist monastery in Latrun, which sits on
the border between Israel and the occupied West Bank, by the 1949
armistice line, and is one of the most famous monastic sites of the Holy
Land.
The Israeli government has strongly condemned such incidents in the
past, but the Palestinians and Israeli anti-settlement activists say
police have taken little action to apprehend those responsible.
Washington and the European Union have also condemned such attacks,
which often spike after Israeli government action to move settlers from
settlements in the West Bank.