JERUSALEM (JTA) — Dozens of cars were vandalized and racist graffiti was painted on the wall of a mosque and other buildings in an Arab-Israeli town in northern Israel.
Israeli news reports said as many as 170 cars had their tires slashed in Jish. The vandalism was discovered on Tuesday morning.
One of the phrases spray-painted on a mosque read “Jews wake up. Stop assimilating.”
Security camera footage showed three suspects wearing hooded sweatshirts going from car to car to slash their tires. The footage was broadcast on the Kan national broadcaster.
The police are investigating the incident as a suspected hate crime.
“We will find the offenders and deal with them to the fullest extent of the law,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. “We will not accept any attacks on our citizens.”
Gish, located on Mount Meron about 8 miles north of Safed, has about 3,000 residents, over half of whom are Maronite Christians.
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