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Rising wave of racist attacks against Arabs blamed on Israeli government


By Jillian Kestler-D'Amours (Electronic Intifada)

Palestinian community leaders have blamed a refusal by the Israeli government to condemn increased incitement to racial hatred for a recent surge in extremist violence by settlers and other Zionists.

“The problem here is the way the Israeli government is dealing with all the brutal acts of the settlers in the West Bank and now inside the Green Line [Israel as it is recognized internationally]. The Israeli government is doing nothing in order to stop these racist people, and this fact gives this bunch of racists a green light to do anything they want,” said Sami Abu Shehadeh, a Jaffa resident and member of the Tel Aviv-Jaffa municipal council.

“We are really worried. Now these people are attacking holy places; tomorrow they could also hurt people,” explained Abu Shehadeh, during a demonstration on 8 October against the recent desecration of Muslim and Christian cemeteries in Jaffa by suspected Jewish-Israeli extremists.

On the eve of Yom Kippur, the Jewish holiday of repentance, suspected Israeli extremists spray-painted “Death to Arabs” and “Price Tag” on headstones in the two Jaffa cemeteries.

“We are having terrorist groups of Jews going inside the Green Line and in the West Bank,” Abu Shehadeh added, “and nobody is doing anything [about it], and they are really dangerous people.”

Wave of racist attacks throughout Israel

On 9 October, the words “Maccabi Haifa [a soccer club] doesn’t want Arabs on the team,” “Death to Arabs,” and “Rabbi Kahane was right” — referring to Meir Kahane, the leader of the ultra right-wing, banned Kach party, who advocated the forcible deportation of all Palestinians — were also found spray-painted on structures in the city of Bat Yam, just south of Tel Aviv.

These attacks came less than a week after a mosque in the Bedouin village of Tuba Zangariya, in the Galilee region of northern Israel, was set on fire. The inner walls of the mosque, holy books, and carpets were severely damaged in the attack. more

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