BICOM

The vandalism of the Latrun Monastery, which was discovered Tuesday morning was widely condemned by Israel’s leaders yesterday. The attack is the suspected work of right-wing, Jewish extremists, protesting the evacuation of the West Bank settlement of Migron earlier this week. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the act, saying: ‘This was a heinous act whose perpetrators must be punished. The freedom of religion and the freedom of worship are among Israel’s most important principles.’

Defence Minister Ehud Barak also condemned the attack and issued a call to the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), police and state prosecution to ‘tackle Jewish terrorism.’ ‘This must be fought with an iron fist, and we must put an end to these severe phenomena that stain the name of the State of Israel. We are obligated to uproot this phenomenon,’ Barak added.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman echoed Barak and Netanyahu’s sentiment: ‘These “price tag” acts, carried out by a bunch of lunatics, are intolerable. This is an insult to the State of Israel and the Jewish people,’ he said. Moderate settler leaders also condemned the attack, according to reports in Israeli media.

Early Tuesday vandals set fire to the entrance door of the Latrun Monastery and spray-painted names of West Bank outposts and slogans against the Christian religion on its walls.

Acting Jerusalem District Police Commander Meni Yitzhaki visited the monastery on Tuesday morning and said, ‘We are taking it very seriously and view it as extremely severe. This is the reason I have come here. We’ll catch the vandals and handle the situation with other security elements. We are very sorry about this incident.’