BICOM

Israel’s Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon yesterday announced that ‘Price Tag’ attacks will be given a new legal classification, paving the way for authorities to use more stringent measures to combat the perpetrators.

Ya’alon announced the new measures to Defence Ministry officials, in a continuation of recent cabinet decisions to combat ‘Price Tag’ incidents, following wide scale vandalism in the Israeli-Arab village of Abu Ghosh last month. ‘Price Tag’ attacks, acts of vandalism against Palestinian property by those opposed to curbs on settlement building, will now constitute “unlawful association.” This is the same legal classification used to describe the activities of terror operatives. It hands the authorities some of the identical powers utilized to combat terror suspects, such as detention until legal proceedings have ended, prevention from meeting with attorneys during interrogation and seizure of suspects’ property.

Ya’alon also announced that ‘Price Tag’ perpetrators will now be regarded as members of terror groups, which he said are defined as organisations which involve “ideological inspiration and covert activity, the main goal of which is to prevent the Israeli government from performing political moves or enforcing the law.” Ya’alon added that “Some of the [Price Tag] acts possess an aspect of revenge on Arabs, which is for all intents and purposes terror.” He further explained that ‘Price Tag’ attacks are “a terrible phenomenon, which includes violence toward Arabs… It is our duty to deliver harsh punishments on these criminals, seeing as the results of their actions are disastrous.”

In a related development, a 22-year-old right-wing activist from Bnei Brak was arrested by Israeli police yesterday in connection with a ‘Price Tag’ attack on a Christian monastery near Jerusalem last September. Graffiti was sprayed on the walls of the monastery at Latrun which indicated that it was intended as a response to the government’s evacuation of the Migron outpost in the West Bank.