JERUSALEM (JTA) – Four 18-year-old yeshiva students were arrested in connection with the vandalism of a Bedouin mosque.
The teens, who study at a yeshiva in the nearby Kfar Hasidim, were arrested Wednesday evening, less than a day after the extremist graffiti was discovered on the mosque in the Ibtin village near Haifa.
"There will be a war over Judea and Samaria," "price tag" and "this structure is destined for demolition" reportedly were discovered spray-painted on the mosque walls several hours before dawn Wednesday.
Car tires in the area also were reportedly slashed.
The students deny the accusations.
The same mosque was the victim of an arson attack in 1988.
Muslims from the village and neighboring villages came to view the vandalism. Village leaders told Haaretz they would involve Arab-Israeli lawmakers in the issue.
Graffiti was spray-painted in April on a mosque in a village near Nablus and three Palestinian vehicles were set on fire. That same month in a second Nablus-area village, two Palestinian vehicles were torched and the words "price tag" and a Star of David were spray-painted on a village building.
