Monastery, Jewish-Arab school attacked

Graffiti attacks against non-Jewish targets have continued in Israel, this time at a Jewish-Arab bilingual school and a Christian monastery.

“Death to Arabs” and “Kahane was right” were painted on the Hand in Hand Center for Jewish-Arab Education elementary school in Jerusalem. The Jewish and Arab students at the school study Hebrew and Arabic. The school is a symbol of coexistence in Jerusalem, according to the Israeli daily Ha’aretz.

Kahane refers to Meir Kahane, the slain ultranationalist and Israeli lawmaker who favored the deportation of Arabs from Israel.

The Greek monastery, an 11th-century holy site in a valley below Israel’s Knesset, also was vandalized with painted slogans reading, “Jesus dropped dead,” “Death to Christians” and “Price tag.”

“Price tag” refers to the strategy that extremist settlers have adopted to exact a price in attacks on Palestinians and Arabs in retribution for settlement freezes and demolitions, or for Palestinian attacks on Jews.

The attacks follow at least two similar attacks in recent days on homes in Palestinian villages in the West Bank. — jta