For the second time in two weeks, Israeli settlers stormed the historical Mosque of the Prophet Daud in Jerusalem, and they broke the ceramic and marble tiles covering three walls. The tiles date back to the 17th century.
Category Archives: Israel
Netanyahu’s Christmas message: More anti-Muslim public diplomacy
Every year, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publishes a Christmas message for Christians in Israel and abroad. One of the message’s objectives is hasbara, or public diplomacy, to the Christians of the world. But this year’s greeting was especially political. Netanyahu chose to radicalize his traditional greeting into an attack on Muslims in Arab countries.
Controversy at London seminar on antisemitism
Gisèle Littman and friend
The Jewish Chronicle has published a report on conflicts that arose during a one-day symposium sponsored by the Journal for the Study of Antisemitism which was held at the Wiener Library in London last weekend.
The controversy was prompted by contributions from two of the speakers. One was Bat Ye’or (the pen name of Gisèle Littman) who informed her audience that the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation is “the source of antisemitism” and that “Islam is denying the root of Judaism and Christianity with a profound belief in Jihad”. Another speaker, Manfred Gerstenfeld, asserted that Muslim culture is inferior to Western culture.
Arson attack on West Bank mosque
Vandals set fire to the entrance of a West Bank mosque on Monday, damaging the door, in an attack that villagers blamed on Jewish settlers.
Residents of the Palestinian village of Orif, near the city of Nablus, said a group of settlers from a nearby settlement came to the mosque before dawn, poured gasoline on an old carpet near the mosque’s door, and set it ablaze.
“The settlers tried to break into the mosque, but it was locked,” Orif resident Issam al-Safadi told Reuters. “So they settled with burning the old carpet and the door.”
Israeli rights group B’tselem says vigilante settler groups are suspected of vandalizing at least 10 mosques in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since 2009.
Update: See “Israeli settlers burn mosque in Palestinian village”, Press TV, 19 November 2012
Follow the money: From Islamophobia to Israel right or wrong
The people bankrolling illegal Israeli expansionism in the occupied West Bank are the same people fomenting anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S., Elly Bulkin and Donna Nevel argue.
Why Bill Maher hates Muslims
Jaun Cole explains why the liberal US comedian and TV host has embraced Islamophobia.
Another ‘price tag’ attack on mosque
Vandals sprayed right-wing slogans on a mosque near Hebron on Tuesday night.
The graffiti included the words “Price Tag Migron” spray-painted on the outside wall of the Salman al-Farisi mosque in Imreish, southwest of Hebron, in reference to the West Bank outpost the government evacuated on September 2.
B’Tselem – The Israel Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories said on Tuesday that residents of the nearby village of Avda said they chased off a group of settlers who tried to set cars on fire late Tuesday night.
On Monday, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch announced that police plan to create a unit that will focus on investigating price-tag incidents, the name given to acts of right-wing vandalism or violence perpetrated against Palestinians to protest government policy toward the settlements.
Settler teen arrested for West Bank mosque arson
Judea and Samaria district police on Sunday arrested a 17-year-old settler they suspect took part in the “price tag” arson attack on a mosque in Jab’a, south of Ramallah, on June 19.
The boy was arrested at Lake Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee) where he was vacationing with his family.
Police detained two other youths last month in connection to the crime. Both were released due to insufficient evidence.
The arsonists at the Jab’a mosque spray-painted the words “Ulpana War” on a wall of the mosque, a reference to the contested outpost next to Beit El. The reference to Beit El led police to view the incident as a price-tag attack, the name given to acts of violence or vandalism committed to protest Israeli government actions against settlements.
Jerusalem: illegal settlers plan to drown out Muslim call to prayer with loud rock music
After the French Hill neighborhood of Jerusalem has decided to play very loud music, in defiance of the volume and disturbance of the sound of the muezzin at the mosque in nearby Al-Issawiya, two additional Jewish neighborhoods, Pisgat Ze’ev and Har Choma, have announced that they, too, will take up a similar approach. French Hill also decided to go with hard rock, and not Mediterranean tunes, as had originally been planned, because, as they put it, hard rock is more likely to deliver the message.
Mosque torched near Ramallah
Unknown assailants torched and spray-painted Hebrew slogans on a mosque in the village of Jaba, southeast of Ramallah.
Damage was caused to the building. The slogans read, “Ulpana war” “The war has started” and “Pay the price.”
IDF and police forces are canvassing the area. It is suspected the vandalism was a “price tag” act.