BICOM

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a strong condemnation after a mosque in northern Israel was torched overnight. According to the Prime Minister’s Office statement, Netanyahu was “outraged” when he saw photos of the torched mosque in the Bedouin village in the Upper Galilee region. The PM added, “The act went against the State of Israel’s values. Freedom of religion and freedom to worship are supreme values.”

Police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld told AFP that a number of suspects entered the mosque in the Bedouin village of Tuba Zangaria and set fire to it, causing heavy damage to the carpets and walls. Slogans were also scrawled on its outside walls, in what police denounced as “a very severe price tag incident.” They also wrote the word “Palmer,” in an apparent reference to Asher Palmer, an Israeli settler who died with his infant son in the southern West Bank on 23 September after his car was hit by stones thrown by Palestinians, causing it to crash.

Both left and right wing politicians condemned the incident. Opposition leader Tzipi Livni, said that if it was indeed a “price tag” act, then it must be denounced. “Burning mosques contradicts Israel’s values as a Jewish state,” she said. “Such serious incidents obligate us to conduct a national self-examination.” Kadima MK, Otniel Schneller, in an initial reaction, said the arson “resembled an act of terror.” Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch of Yisrael Beiteinu also responded with outrage to the incident on Monday, calling it a “criminal and despicable attack on a holy place.”

Hardline Jewish settlers have adopted what they call a “price tag” policy under which they attack Palestinians and their property in response to Israeli government measures against settlements or following terror attacks in the West Bank.