Price tag policy
Encyclopedia
Price tag policy is, according to B'tselem
, the name given to "acts of random violence aimed at the Palestinian population and Israeli security forces" by radical Israeli Jewish settlers
, who, according to the New York Times "exact a price from local Palestinians or from the Israeli security forces for any action taken against their settlement enterprise". The Wall Street Journal states that the term refers to "a campaign of retribution by fundamentalist
Israeli youths against Palestinians in the West Bank". This campaign includes attacks on Palestinian villages and property by Jewish extremists as retaliation for terrorist attacks on Israeli targets and for government demolition of structures at West Bank settlements and the removal of outposts which are variously described as being either unauthorised or illegal, or curbs on Israeli construction in the West Bank
Shin Bet estimates of the extent of the perpetrator group vary: one figure calculates that from several hundred to about 3,000 people implement the price tag policy, while a recent analysis sets the figure at a few dozen individuals, organized in small close-knit and well-organised cells and backed by a few hundred right-wing activists.
The "Price tag" incidents include demonstrations, blocking of roads, vandalism of Palestinian property, violent attacks carried out against random Palestinian
civilians, burning of mosques and fields, stone throwing, uprooting trees, making incursions into Palestinian villages and land, damaging the property, or injuring members of the Israeli police and the Israeli Defense Forces, and defacing the homes of left-wing activists.
The roots of the Price tag policy were traced to the August 2005 dismantling of settlements in the Gaza Strip as part of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan
. Ever since then, extreme right wing settlers have sought to establish a "balance of terror
," in which every state action aimed at them generates an immediate violent reaction.
The "price tag" concept and violence have been publicly rejected by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
and many people across the political spectrum in Israel have denounced recent incidents, such as arson of a mosque. Government spokesmen admit that so far they have not been very successful in catching the perpetrators. According to Reuters
, a 57% upswing in such attacks in the first seven months of 2011. No charges have yet been brought against suspects in price tag incidents. The settler leadership
have "fiercely condemned" the price tag policy, and the vast majority of Yesha
rabbis have expressed their reservations about it. According to Shin Bet, the vast majority of the settlers also reject such actions. In September 2011 the Shin Beit advised the government to withhold funding from one yeshiva
, Od Yosef Chai
in the settlement of Yitzhar
, on the basis of intelligence reports that its rabbis encourage students to attack Arabs, including 'price tag' assaults.
According to a Ynet
-Gesher survey conducted in March 2011, following the massacre of five family members in the Jewish settlement of Itamar, it was found that 46% of Israelis believe that “price tag” attacks are justified to a certain extent. A breakdown of attitudes among religious-national and ultra-orthodox respondents revealed that a large majority are supportive of such price-tag attacks, with 70% of Orthodox and 71% of religious nationalist Jews surveyed justifying the policy.
In some cases, Israeli settlers have claimed that Palestinians and leftwing activists staged "price tag" attacks as a means of provocation
, in an attempt to tarnish the image of Jewish settlers in the West Bank.
analysis in late 2009 defined it as "a new pattern" within the strategy of ongoing settler violence since the 1980s, and one that emerged during 2008, which "entails the exertion of systematic, widespread and indiscriminate violence against Palestinian civilians and Israeli security forces, following attempts by the Israeli authorities to evacuate settlement outposts. The overall objective of this strategy is to deter the Israeli authorities from removing such outposts. In the immediate term, the “price tag” strategy aims at diverting Israeli forces and troops from the scene of an outpost evacuation into other areas requiring the intervention of those forces to contain violent incidents." Among its perpetrators the price tag policy is apparently also known as "mutual responsibility" ("ערבות הדדית": Arvut Hadadit), by which is meant the collective effort needed to block the evacuation of settler outposts.
In March 2011, settlers at the Givat Ronen outpost near Har Bracha used it to define Israeli government actions against them. After causing extensive damage to police vehicles and throwing rocks at police officers entering the settlement to arrest a suspect, they charged that the police response, the use of pepper spray and the arrests that followed, were an example of a government "price tag policy", exacted in revenge against the whole community. Sarah Kreimer uses the phrase to describe Prime Minister Netanyahu's go-ahead for the construction of the settlement of Har Homa
over the Green Line
in 1997, which was, she argues, 'a kind of “price tag” for Israel’s withdrawal from parts of Hebron
.' Settler Benny Katzover described Brigadier General
Nitzan Alon was spitting on the rule of law and engaged in a 'price tag' operation when he called on the US Congress not to freeze aid to the Palestinian Authority in response to the unilateral PA statehood bid.Gideon Levy
describes as a 'price tag' Israeli government measures to expand settlements in response to the Palestinian bid for recognition by UNESCO
and the United Nations.
has described the term "price tag" as a settlers' euphemism, adding that "The truth has to be stated. What the settlers are doing to their Palestinian neighbors is terrorism in every sense of the word." A Haaretz editorial likewise argued that the innocent-sounding label is doing service to describe what it called 'abominable acts' in a 'wave of terror'.
According to the military correspondent of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz
the roots of the policy go back to Ariel Sharon
's policy of disengagement from Gaza
in August 2005 and the demolition in 2006 of the illegal settlement at Amona.
The Kahane Chai member and IDF soldier Eden Natan-Zada
's gunning down of Israeli Arabs on a bus in the town of Shfar'am, in which four Arabs were killed and twenty-two were wounded, took place on the 4th of August 2005, just before the Gaza evacuation, and has been interpreted as a possible price-tag assault aimed at provoking riots that would make the IDF too busy to execute the evacuation on the Gaza Strip
. Later that same year, Asher Weisgan
of the Shiloh
settlement murdered 4 Palestinians in a similar protest at the withdrawal from Amona.
According to Harel, since the Gaza and Amona withdrawals
In July 2008, after the evacuation of a bus from the Israeli outpost of "Adi Ed" (עדי עד), followed by clashes between settler groups with Palestinians and the IDF, settler Itay Zar from the Israeli outpost of "Havat Gilad
" referred to the policy as such: "Whenever an evacuation is carried out - whether it is a bus, a trailer or a small outpost - we will respond." In an article published in May 2010, Zar explained that this is a legitimate struggle which includes mainly the blocking of intersections and roads in order to disrupt the regular operations of Israeli security forces, preventing them from demolishing settler houses. Zar referred to the criminal activity involved in these actions as "marginal and uncontrolled acts." In the wake of the dismantlement of Noam Federman
's farm outside Hebron in October 2008, opponents of the evacuation called for revenge attacks against the security forces, telling soldiers: "you should all be defeated by your enemies, you should all become (kidnapped soldier) Gilad Shalit
, you should all be killed, you should all be slaughtered, because that's what you deserve", and set a price tag on the event by stoning soldiers and local Palestinians, wounding 2 border poliemen, vandalizing cars, and destroying graves in a Muslim graveyard.
Price tag operations were originally envisaged as mobilizing actions by settlers throughout the West Bank - retaliating in the north when outposts in the south were threatened with dismantlement, and exacting a price in the south when outposts risked removal in the north. However, by 2009, though considerable damage was wrought to Palestinian property and persons, a coordinated north-south campaign still hadn't been realised. Price attacks could, furthermore, also be triggered purely on the basis of an announcement of government measures or by rumours of an imminent evacuation.
The acts of random violence generally follow actions by Israeli authorities that are perceived as harming the settlement enterprise, or follow Palestinian violence against settlers. "Price tag" acts include demonstrations, blocking of roads
, clashes with Israeli security forces and even attacks against Israeli security forces personnel. Usually, however, the term refers to carried out by radical right-winged Israeli activists against Palestinians and their property. These include throwing stones at Palestinian cars, the torching of Palestinian fields and orchards, as well as the destruction and uprooting of trees belonging to Palestinians.
According to Israeli human rights group, Yesh Din
, "The goal is to create a price for each evacuation, causing the Israeli authorities to think twice about carrying them out." A September 2011 article in The Economist suggested that one motive for these attacks might be to instigate violent Palestinian reaction, because the settlers are better-armed and believe that they could defeat the Palestinians.
Towards the end of 2009, following an Israeli government decision to freeze any Israeli construction in the West Bank for a period of 10 months, several suspicious attacks were carried out in the West Bank, including the suspected arson
of a mosque in the Palestinian town of Yasuf
, during which graffiti
was sprayed on a building saying "Prepare for the price tag". The Shin Bet estimates of the extent of the perpetrator group vary: one figure calculates that from several hundred to about 3,000 people implement the price tag policy, while a recent analysis sets the figure at a few dozen individuals backed a few hundred right-wing activists. The vast majority of the settlers reject such actions, Shin Bet officials say. They are organized in small close-knit and well-organised cells.
A 2009 summary report published by the Israeli police stated that during 2009 there was a decline in these types of attacks. According to a report of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA) published in November 2009, if Israel were to begin evacuating settlements in the West Bank, 248,700 Palestinians living in 83 communities would be exposed to this policy, of which 22 communities with 75,900 inhabitants would be at high risk.
According to Yesh Din
, which monitored a selection of incidents over 4 years, Israel Police did not file a single indictment following 69 cases that included price tag operations, where thousands of olive trees were burnt down between 2005 and 2009.
In May 2011 the Israeli police arrested several members of the Israeli-Arab
Bakri family from Jaffa under the suspicion of plotting to kill an Imam
in the Hassan Bek Mosque
in Jaffa
, due to a business dispute. The murder was intended to appear as a "Price Tag" attack carried out by Israeli right-wing activists.
and many people across the political spectrum in Israel. Former Knesset member and settler leader Hanan Porat
has also condemned the price tag policy. "The ‘price tag’ response is immoral," Porat said. "It’s unheard of that one needs to burn the vineyards and fields of Arabs. It’s immoral ... and it gives legitimacy to those who are interested in undermining the outpost issue. It's a very grave matter."
In 2008, the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
condemned settlers in Hebron who attacked Palestinians and their property, referring to the attacks as a "pogrom
". He said, "I am ashamed that Jews could do such a thing," and that he has ordered the defense minister and other relevant elements to "do all it takes, with all the strength needed and in any place controlled by the State of Israel, in order to stop this phenomenon." He promised authorities will take "aggressive action" to bring those responsible to justice.
The burning of a mosque at the Bedouin town Tuba-Zangariyye
on 3 October 2011 shocked Israelis, as many Bedouins, including those from this village, serve in the Israeli army. The Israeli President Shimon Peres
, accompanied by Israel’s two chief rabbis, visited the mosque, and after surveying the damage stated he was "full of shame". Peres also stated that the mosque burning is "an un-Jewish act." In denouncing the attack he added: "It is unconscionable that a Jew would harm something that is holy to another religion ... We will not allow extremists and criminals to undercut the need to live together equally in equality and mutual respect." During the visit, the chief Sephardic rabbi of Israel
, Shlomo Amar
, and chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger
, jointly condemned the act and conveyed a message of reconciliation to the village residents. Amar said that he saw it as his duty to set a personal example for the respect one must show to places holy to different religions. He stresses that in lieu of proof, the act may have not been committed by Jews, and the attempt to ascribe the act to price tag activists may be in fact a blood libel
. He also added that if the arsonist was in fact Jewish – he was subject to some of the Jewish laws of Dinei Rodef
.
have "fiercely condemned" the "price tag" attacks, against either Palestinians or Israeli security forces A Haaretz editorial expressed scepticism over Yesha declarations, asserting that the response of condemnation to an earlier episode was marked by 'feigned and hypocritical shock'.
Some settler leaders who have publicly expressed their opposition to some price tag incidents include Danny Dayan, Chairman of the Yesha Council, and Pinhas Wallerstein, former secretary general of the Yesha Council.
Elyakim Haetzni
, an Israeli lawyer, pro-settlement activist and former right wing politician, wrote that price tag is "an infuriating term in terms of both morality and logic", and called it a "despicable method".
Former mayor of Kedumim
Daniella Weiss
, whom senior political and military figures reportedly believed was behind much of the settler violence classified as price tag actions after the evacuation of Beit HaShalom
, is on record as rejecting the policy, saying that it had diverted settlers from what she considered to be their most important task - setting up additional caravans and tents to lay claim to ever more hilltops in the West Bank. She stated that the only "price tag" action acceptable to her is the establishment of a new outpost in response to every outpost that had been demolished by Israeli authorities.
According to a Ynet
-Gesher survey conducted in March 2011, it was found that 46% of Israelis believe that “price tag” attacks are justified to a certain extent. A breakdown of attitudes among religious national and ultra-orthodox respondents revealed that a large majority are supportive of such price-tag attacks, with 70% of Orthodox and 71% religious nationalists Jews surveyed justifying the policy. Ori Nir of Peace Now evaluated the poll as indicating significant support for violent actions among the Israeli public, yet estimated that it is likely that the timing of the poll influenced the respondents' views. Israelis were still under the influence of the Fogel family massacre, when five Jewish family members, including young children, were massacred in their beds on a Sabbath.
In a recent analysis Zeev Sternhell
argues that while the vast majority in Israel is disgusted by these attacks, and the right is distancing itself from those torching mosques, there is little evidence that they condemn the daily harassment of Palestinians by settlers. The "price tag hooligans" are, he maintains, 'the vanguard of the entire settlement movement settler' and 'are increasingly reminiscent of phenomena in Europe in the interwar period.'
rabbis and settlers condemn it both on moral grounds, prohibiting harm to innocent people and due to the Halachic prohibition
which such actions, and on practical grounds, due to the fear that such acts are actually harmful to the settlement movement in the West Bank
.
Rabbis who have publicly expressed their opposition include Yuval Cherlow,Haim Druckman, Nahum Rabinovich
, Shlomo Aviner
, Aharon Lichtenstein
, Yaakov Medan, Eliakim Levanon, Avichai Rontzki
, Menachem Froman
, Elchanan Ben-Nun, Benny Lau, Samuel Reiner and Haim Navon.
According to the Israeli journalist Nadav Shragai, there is no Israeli leader or rabbi who openly supports this policy, yet some of the young activists who carry out these acts are students of the rabbis Yitzchak Ginsburgh
, David Dudkavich and Yitzhak Shapira
, who head the "Od Yosef Chai" Yeshiva
in the Israeli settlement of Yitzhar
. In an interview on Galei Tzahal in February 2010, Rabbi Ginsburgh explicitly called to refrain from violence against Palestinians. Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira
, while urging a "fierce defense" of outposts, holds the IDF responsible for the atmosphere in which such acts are undertaken, and for implementing a price tag policy against the yeshiva. Shapira, who has called for retaliatory attacks against Palestinians, was arrested in January 2010 for his alleged involvement in the torching of a Palestinian mosque. He denied any involvement, and was released due to lack of evidence.
In July 2011, police announced that they would question prominent rabbis Dov Lior
and Ya'akov Yosef over whether their endorsements of Yitzhak Shapira
and Yosef Elitzur's book, Torat Hamelech (The King's Torah) which argues that killing non-Jews is acceptable as part of a religious war, constituted an incitement. Security officials said that the book could be used by settlers to justify price tag retributive attacks on Palestinians.
The rabbi of Har Brakha
, Eliezer Melamed, who according to Chaim Levinson of Haaretz, is considered one of the more extreme settler rabbis, used his weekly column in the newspaper "Basheva" to denounce the price tag policy. He wrote, "We don't aspire to private vengeance, but to state vengeance led by the Israel Defense Forces and all the systems of government".
According to rabbi Barry Leff of the Israeli NGO Rabbis for Human Rights
, the price tag policy is forbidden by halacha (Jewish religious law). Citing Deuteronomy 24:16, he writes that the Torah clearly forbids vicarious punishment, punishing someone other than the offender. Furthermore, according to Leff, when the perpetrators attack a mosque, a house of God, they are also guilty of violating the principle of Bal tashkhit
, not to carry out wanton destruction, as well as the sin of Chillul Hashem
, the desecration of God’s name.
B'Tselem
B'Tselem is an Israeli non-governmental organization . It calls itself "The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories"...
, the name given to "acts of random violence aimed at the Palestinian population and Israeli security forces" by radical Israeli Jewish settlers
Israeli settlement
An Israeli settlement is a Jewish civilian community built on land that was captured by Israel from Jordan, Egypt, and Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War and is considered occupied territory by the international community. Such settlements currently exist in the West Bank...
, who, according to the New York Times "exact a price from local Palestinians or from the Israeli security forces for any action taken against their settlement enterprise". The Wall Street Journal states that the term refers to "a campaign of retribution by fundamentalist
Jewish fundamentalism
The term Jewish fundamentalism may refer to militant religious Zionism or Ashkenazi or Sephardi ultra-orthodox Judaism.The term "fundamentalism" was originally used in reference to certain Christian groups but today commonly refers to the anti-modernist movements of any religion based on literal...
Israeli youths against Palestinians in the West Bank". This campaign includes attacks on Palestinian villages and property by Jewish extremists as retaliation for terrorist attacks on Israeli targets and for government demolition of structures at West Bank settlements and the removal of outposts which are variously described as being either unauthorised or illegal, or curbs on Israeli construction in the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
Shin Bet estimates of the extent of the perpetrator group vary: one figure calculates that from several hundred to about 3,000 people implement the price tag policy, while a recent analysis sets the figure at a few dozen individuals, organized in small close-knit and well-organised cells and backed by a few hundred right-wing activists.
The "Price tag" incidents include demonstrations, blocking of roads, vandalism of Palestinian property, violent attacks carried out against random Palestinian
Palestinian
Palestinian may refer to:* Something of, from, or related to Palestine, the Palestinian territories or the State of Palestine*A member of the Palestinian people, also rendered as Palestinian Arabs**Demographics of Palestine...
civilians, burning of mosques and fields, stone throwing, uprooting trees, making incursions into Palestinian villages and land, damaging the property, or injuring members of the Israeli police and the Israeli Defense Forces, and defacing the homes of left-wing activists.
The roots of the Price tag policy were traced to the August 2005 dismantling of settlements in the Gaza Strip as part of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan
Israel's unilateral disengagement plan
Israel's unilateral disengagement plan , also known as the "Disengagement plan", "Gaza expulsion plan", and "Hitnatkut", was a proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, adopted by the government on June 6, 2004 and enacted in August 2005, to evict all Israelis from the Gaza Strip and from...
. Ever since then, extreme right wing settlers have sought to establish a "balance of terror
Balance of terror
The phrase "balance of terror" is usually used in reference to the nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War....
," in which every state action aimed at them generates an immediate violent reaction.
The "price tag" concept and violence have been publicly rejected by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is the current Prime Minister of Israel. He serves also as the Chairman of the Likud Party, as a Knesset member, as the Health Minister of Israel, as the Pensioner Affairs Minister of Israel and as the Economic Strategy Minister of Israel.Netanyahu is the first and, to...
and many people across the political spectrum in Israel have denounced recent incidents, such as arson of a mosque. Government spokesmen admit that so far they have not been very successful in catching the perpetrators. According to Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
, a 57% upswing in such attacks in the first seven months of 2011. No charges have yet been brought against suspects in price tag incidents. The settler leadership
Yesha Council
The Yesha Council is an umbrella organization of municipal councils of Jewish settlements in the West Bank , known by the Hebrew acronym Yesha.The Chairman of the Yesha Council is Dani Dayan, elected in July 2007...
have "fiercely condemned" the price tag policy, and the vast majority of Yesha
Yesha
Yesha is a Hebrew acronym for "Judea, Samaria Gaza" , and is one of a number of terms used to describe the areas military occupied by Israel after the Six-Day War of June 1967...
rabbis have expressed their reservations about it. According to Shin Bet, the vast majority of the settlers also reject such actions. In September 2011 the Shin Beit advised the government to withhold funding from one yeshiva
Yeshiva
Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...
, Od Yosef Chai
Yitzchak Ginsburgh
Yitzchak Ginzburg is an American born Israeli rabbi. He is a follower of the Chabad Lubavich movement and currently Rosh Yeshivah of the Od Yosef Chai Yeshivah in the Settlement Yitzhar in the West Bank, and the leader of the kabbalistic Gal Einai organization. He has published numerous books...
in the settlement of Yitzhar
Yitzhar
Yitzhar is an Israeli settlement located in the West Bank south of the city of Nablus just off Route 60, north of the Tapuach Junction. The predominantly Orthodox Jewish community with a population of 895 is within the municipal jurisdiction of the Shomron Regional Council...
, on the basis of intelligence reports that its rabbis encourage students to attack Arabs, including 'price tag' assaults.
According to a Ynet
Ynet
Ynet is the most popular Israeli news and general content website. It is owned by the same conglomerate that operates Yediot Ahronot, the country's secondleading daily newspaper...
-Gesher survey conducted in March 2011, following the massacre of five family members in the Jewish settlement of Itamar, it was found that 46% of Israelis believe that “price tag” attacks are justified to a certain extent. A breakdown of attitudes among religious-national and ultra-orthodox respondents revealed that a large majority are supportive of such price-tag attacks, with 70% of Orthodox and 71% of religious nationalist Jews surveyed justifying the policy.
In some cases, Israeli settlers have claimed that Palestinians and leftwing activists staged "price tag" attacks as a means of provocation
Provocation
Provocation and provoke may refer to:* Provocation , a type of legal defense in court which claims the "victim" provoked the accused's actions...
, in an attempt to tarnish the image of Jewish settlers in the West Bank.
Definition
According to B'tselem, the expression was coined by settlers and came into currency around the middle of 2007, when it was explained to the media as referring to the price Israeli security forces would be made to pay in the event of government actions against their infrastructure. Harm to Palestinians subsequent to such official actions would be one consequence, and would be a display of good citizenship by assisting the police in enforcing building laws also against the Palestinians in areas inhabited by settlers. An OCHAOcha
Ocha is a genus of moth in the family Lasiocampidae....
analysis in late 2009 defined it as "a new pattern" within the strategy of ongoing settler violence since the 1980s, and one that emerged during 2008, which "entails the exertion of systematic, widespread and indiscriminate violence against Palestinian civilians and Israeli security forces, following attempts by the Israeli authorities to evacuate settlement outposts. The overall objective of this strategy is to deter the Israeli authorities from removing such outposts. In the immediate term, the “price tag” strategy aims at diverting Israeli forces and troops from the scene of an outpost evacuation into other areas requiring the intervention of those forces to contain violent incidents." Among its perpetrators the price tag policy is apparently also known as "mutual responsibility" ("ערבות הדדית": Arvut Hadadit), by which is meant the collective effort needed to block the evacuation of settler outposts.
In March 2011, settlers at the Givat Ronen outpost near Har Bracha used it to define Israeli government actions against them. After causing extensive damage to police vehicles and throwing rocks at police officers entering the settlement to arrest a suspect, they charged that the police response, the use of pepper spray and the arrests that followed, were an example of a government "price tag policy", exacted in revenge against the whole community. Sarah Kreimer uses the phrase to describe Prime Minister Netanyahu's go-ahead for the construction of the settlement of Har Homa
Har Homa
Har Homa is a neighborhood in southern East Jerusalem, near Beit Sahour. Built on land annexed to the Jerusalem municipality by Israel after the 1967 Six-Day War, it is considered by much of the world an illegal Israeli settlement, although Israel disputes this.The neighborhood was officially...
over the Green Line
Green Line (Israel)
Green Line refers to the demarcation lines set out in the 1949 Armistice Agreements between Israel and its neighbours after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War...
in 1997, which was, she argues, 'a kind of “price tag” for Israel’s withdrawal from parts of Hebron
Hebron
Hebron , is located in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judean Mountains, it lies 930 meters above sea level. It is the largest city in the West Bank and home to around 165,000 Palestinians, and over 500 Jewish settlers concentrated in and around the old quarter...
.' Settler Benny Katzover described Brigadier General
Brigadier General
Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000...
Nitzan Alon was spitting on the rule of law and engaged in a 'price tag' operation when he called on the US Congress not to freeze aid to the Palestinian Authority in response to the unilateral PA statehood bid.Gideon Levy
Gideon Levy
Gideon Levy is an Israeli journalist.Levy writes opinion pieces and a weekly column for the newspaper Haaretz that often focus on the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories...
describes as a 'price tag' Israeli government measures to expand settlements in response to the Palestinian bid for recognition by UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
and the United Nations.
Characterization as terrorism
Israeli journalist Yossi MelmanYossi Melman
Yossi Melman is an Israeli writer and journalist.Yossi Melman graduated from Hebrew University of Jerusalem and was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University...
has described the term "price tag" as a settlers' euphemism, adding that "The truth has to be stated. What the settlers are doing to their Palestinian neighbors is terrorism in every sense of the word." A Haaretz editorial likewise argued that the innocent-sounding label is doing service to describe what it called 'abominable acts' in a 'wave of terror'.
History of the price tag policy
Haaretz
Haaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...
the roots of the policy go back to Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon is an Israeli statesman and retired general, who served as Israel’s 11th Prime Minister. He has been in a permanent vegetative state since suffering a stroke on 4 January 2006....
's policy of disengagement from Gaza
Israel's unilateral disengagement plan
Israel's unilateral disengagement plan , also known as the "Disengagement plan", "Gaza expulsion plan", and "Hitnatkut", was a proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, adopted by the government on June 6, 2004 and enacted in August 2005, to evict all Israelis from the Gaza Strip and from...
in August 2005 and the demolition in 2006 of the illegal settlement at Amona.
The Kahane Chai member and IDF soldier Eden Natan-Zada
Eden Natan-Zada
Eden Natan-Zada was an Israeli terrorist who was born to a Jewish family that immigrated to Israel from Iran. He was an AWOL Israeli soldier who opened fire in a bus in Shefa-Amr in northern Israel on 4 August 2005, killing four Arab citizens of Israel and wounding twelve others. He was restrained,...
's gunning down of Israeli Arabs on a bus in the town of Shfar'am, in which four Arabs were killed and twenty-two were wounded, took place on the 4th of August 2005, just before the Gaza evacuation, and has been interpreted as a possible price-tag assault aimed at provoking riots that would make the IDF too busy to execute the evacuation on the Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
. Later that same year, Asher Weisgan
Asher Weisgan
Asher Weisgan was an Israeli bus driver who shot and murdered four Palestinians and injured two others in the Israeli settlement of Shiloh in the West Bank on 17 August 2005. Weisgan wanted to disrupt the Israeli Government's unilateral disengagement plan in Gaza by sparking a Palestinian reaction...
of the Shiloh
Shiloh
Shiloh, Shilo, or Silo may refer to:In religion:*Shiloh , a city in the Ephraim hill-country said to contain the Ark of the Covenant*Shiloh , a figure of contested meaning mentioned in the Hebrew Bible...
settlement murdered 4 Palestinians in a similar protest at the withdrawal from Amona.
According to Harel, since the Gaza and Amona withdrawals
"the extreme right has sought to establish a "balance of terrorBalance of terrorThe phrase "balance of terror" is usually used in reference to the nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War....
," in which every state action aimed at them - from demolishing a caravan in an outpost to restricting the movements of those suspected of harassing Palestinian olive harvesters - generates an immediate, violent reaction."
In July 2008, after the evacuation of a bus from the Israeli outpost of "Adi Ed" (עדי עד), followed by clashes between settler groups with Palestinians and the IDF, settler Itay Zar from the Israeli outpost of "Havat Gilad
Havat Gilad
Havat Gilad is an Israeli settlement outpost in the West Bank, beyond the jurisdiction of the Shomron Regional Council. It was established in 2002 in memory of Gilad Zar, security coordinator of the Shomron Regional Council, who was shot and killed in 2001. It is considered an un-authorized...
" referred to the policy as such: "Whenever an evacuation is carried out - whether it is a bus, a trailer or a small outpost - we will respond." In an article published in May 2010, Zar explained that this is a legitimate struggle which includes mainly the blocking of intersections and roads in order to disrupt the regular operations of Israeli security forces, preventing them from demolishing settler houses. Zar referred to the criminal activity involved in these actions as "marginal and uncontrolled acts." In the wake of the dismantlement of Noam Federman
Noam Federman
Noam Federman is a religious right-wing Israeli Jew in Hebron and a former leader of the Kach Party which he has been involved with since he was 14. He has been held in administrative detention several times. Federman hosts a weekly Internet program called "Federman Without Censor"...
's farm outside Hebron in October 2008, opponents of the evacuation called for revenge attacks against the security forces, telling soldiers: "you should all be defeated by your enemies, you should all become (kidnapped soldier) Gilad Shalit
Gilad Shalit
Gilad Shalit is an Israeli – French citizen and Israel Defense Forces soldier. On 25 June 2006, he was captured inside Israel by Hamas militants in a cross-border raid via underground tunnels near the border with Gaza. The Hamas militants held him for over five years, until he was released on...
, you should all be killed, you should all be slaughtered, because that's what you deserve", and set a price tag on the event by stoning soldiers and local Palestinians, wounding 2 border poliemen, vandalizing cars, and destroying graves in a Muslim graveyard.
Price tag operations were originally envisaged as mobilizing actions by settlers throughout the West Bank - retaliating in the north when outposts in the south were threatened with dismantlement, and exacting a price in the south when outposts risked removal in the north. However, by 2009, though considerable damage was wrought to Palestinian property and persons, a coordinated north-south campaign still hadn't been realised. Price attacks could, furthermore, also be triggered purely on the basis of an announcement of government measures or by rumours of an imminent evacuation.
The acts of random violence generally follow actions by Israeli authorities that are perceived as harming the settlement enterprise, or follow Palestinian violence against settlers. "Price tag" acts include demonstrations, blocking of roads
Roadblock
A roadblock is a temporary installation set up to control or block traffic along a road. The reasons for one could be:*Roadworks*Temporary road closure during special events*Police chase*Robbery*Sobriety checkpoint...
, clashes with Israeli security forces and even attacks against Israeli security forces personnel. Usually, however, the term refers to carried out by radical right-winged Israeli activists against Palestinians and their property. These include throwing stones at Palestinian cars, the torching of Palestinian fields and orchards, as well as the destruction and uprooting of trees belonging to Palestinians.
According to Israeli human rights group, Yesh Din
Yesh Din
Yesh Din is an Israeli human rights group providing legal assistance to citizens of the Palestinian territories. Its name comes from a Hebrew phrase meaning “there is law”...
, "The goal is to create a price for each evacuation, causing the Israeli authorities to think twice about carrying them out." A September 2011 article in The Economist suggested that one motive for these attacks might be to instigate violent Palestinian reaction, because the settlers are better-armed and believe that they could defeat the Palestinians.
Towards the end of 2009, following an Israeli government decision to freeze any Israeli construction in the West Bank for a period of 10 months, several suspicious attacks were carried out in the West Bank, including the suspected arson
Arson
Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
of a mosque in the Palestinian town of Yasuf
Yasuf
Yasuf is a Palestinian town located in the Salfit Governorate in the northern West Bank, northeast of Salfit, southwest of Nablus and adjacent to the Israeli settlement of Kfar Tapuach. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, it had a population of approximately 1,761 in...
, during which graffiti
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
was sprayed on a building saying "Prepare for the price tag". The Shin Bet estimates of the extent of the perpetrator group vary: one figure calculates that from several hundred to about 3,000 people implement the price tag policy, while a recent analysis sets the figure at a few dozen individuals backed a few hundred right-wing activists. The vast majority of the settlers reject such actions, Shin Bet officials say. They are organized in small close-knit and well-organised cells.
A 2009 summary report published by the Israeli police stated that during 2009 there was a decline in these types of attacks. According to a report of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs , is a United Nations body formed in December 1991 by General Assembly Resolution 46/182...
(OCHA) published in November 2009, if Israel were to begin evacuating settlements in the West Bank, 248,700 Palestinians living in 83 communities would be exposed to this policy, of which 22 communities with 75,900 inhabitants would be at high risk.
According to Yesh Din
Yesh Din
Yesh Din is an Israeli human rights group providing legal assistance to citizens of the Palestinian territories. Its name comes from a Hebrew phrase meaning “there is law”...
, which monitored a selection of incidents over 4 years, Israel Police did not file a single indictment following 69 cases that included price tag operations, where thousands of olive trees were burnt down between 2005 and 2009.
Allegations of staged price tag attacks
Settlers have at times claimed that Palestinians cut down trees on their own land and blame settlers. In some cases it was indeed discovered that the settlers were falsely accused of carrying out price tag attacks. In addition, allegations have also been raised against several media organizations who have classified certain incidents, in which there were no suspects and no charges were filed, as "Price Tag" attacks, while similar attacks carried out against Israelis are not classified similarly.In May 2011 the Israeli police arrested several members of the Israeli-Arab
Arab citizens of Israel
Arab citizens of Israel refers to citizens of Israel who are not Jewish, and whose cultural and linguistic heritage or ethnic identity is Arab....
Bakri family from Jaffa under the suspicion of plotting to kill an Imam
Imam
An imam is an Islamic leadership position, often the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads Islamic worship services. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have a religious question...
in the Hassan Bek Mosque
Hassan Bek Mosque
The Hassan Bek Mosque , , also known as the Hasan Bey Mosque, is considered to be one of the most well-known mosques located in Jaffa, which is now part of the Tel Aviv-Yafo municipality in Israel...
in Jaffa
Jaffa
Jaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical story of the prophet Jonah.-Etymology:...
, due to a business dispute. The murder was intended to appear as a "Price Tag" attack carried out by Israeli right-wing activists.
Official Israeli reactions
The "price tag" policy has also been denounced by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin NetanyahuBenjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is the current Prime Minister of Israel. He serves also as the Chairman of the Likud Party, as a Knesset member, as the Health Minister of Israel, as the Pensioner Affairs Minister of Israel and as the Economic Strategy Minister of Israel.Netanyahu is the first and, to...
and many people across the political spectrum in Israel. Former Knesset member and settler leader Hanan Porat
Hanan Porat
-External links:...
has also condemned the price tag policy. "The ‘price tag’ response is immoral," Porat said. "It’s unheard of that one needs to burn the vineyards and fields of Arabs. It’s immoral ... and it gives legitimacy to those who are interested in undermining the outpost issue. It's a very grave matter."
In 2008, the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
Ehud Olmert
Ehud Olmert is an Israeli politician and lawyer. He served as Prime Minister of Israel from 2006 to 2009, as a Cabinet Minister from 1988 to 1992 and from 2003 to 2006, and as Mayor of Jerusalem from 1993 to 2003....
condemned settlers in Hebron who attacked Palestinians and their property, referring to the attacks as a "pogrom
Pogrom
A pogrom is a form of violent riot, a mob attack directed against a minority group, and characterized by killings and destruction of their homes and properties, businesses, and religious centres...
". He said, "I am ashamed that Jews could do such a thing," and that he has ordered the defense minister and other relevant elements to "do all it takes, with all the strength needed and in any place controlled by the State of Israel, in order to stop this phenomenon." He promised authorities will take "aggressive action" to bring those responsible to justice.
The burning of a mosque at the Bedouin town Tuba-Zangariyye
Tuba-Zangariyye
Tuba-Zangariyye or Tuba az-Zanghariyya is a Bedouin town in the North District of Israel that achieved local council status in 1988. It was formed by the merger of two villages, Tuba and az-Zangariyye. Populated by the Bedouin tribe of El Heib, Tuba is situated near Kfar Hanassi, overlooking the...
on 3 October 2011 shocked Israelis, as many Bedouins, including those from this village, serve in the Israeli army. The Israeli President Shimon Peres
Shimon Peres
GCMG is the ninth President of the State of Israel. Peres served twice as the eighth Prime Minister of Israel and once as Interim Prime Minister, and has been a member of 12 cabinets in a political career spanning over 66 years...
, accompanied by Israel’s two chief rabbis, visited the mosque, and after surveying the damage stated he was "full of shame". Peres also stated that the mosque burning is "an un-Jewish act." In denouncing the attack he added: "It is unconscionable that a Jew would harm something that is holy to another religion ... We will not allow extremists and criminals to undercut the need to live together equally in equality and mutual respect." During the visit, the chief Sephardic rabbi of Israel
Chief Rabbinate of Israel
The Chief Rabbinate of Israel is recognized by law as the supreme halakhic and spiritual authority for the Jewish people in Israel. The Chief Rabbinate Council assists the two chief rabbis, who alternate in its presidency. It has legal and administrative authority to organize religious...
, Shlomo Amar
Shlomo Amar
Rabbi Shlomo Moshe Amar has been the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel and the Rishon LeZion since his appointment in 2003. His colleague is Rabbi Yona Metzger, the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel....
, and chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger
Yona Metzger
Yona Metzger is the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel. His counterpart is Rabbi Shlomo Amar, the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel since their appointments in 2003.-Background:...
, jointly condemned the act and conveyed a message of reconciliation to the village residents. Amar said that he saw it as his duty to set a personal example for the respect one must show to places holy to different religions. He stresses that in lieu of proof, the act may have not been committed by Jews, and the attempt to ascribe the act to price tag activists may be in fact a blood libel
Blood libel
Blood libel is a false accusation or claim that religious minorities, usually Jews, murder children to use their blood in certain aspects of their religious rituals and holidays...
. He also added that if the arsonist was in fact Jewish – he was subject to some of the Jewish laws of Dinei Rodef
Rodef
A rodef , in traditional Jewish law, is one who is "pursuing" another to murder him or her. According to Jewish law, such a person must be killed by any bystander after being warned to stop and refusing...
.
Support and opposition among the Israeli public
The settler leadershipYesha Council
The Yesha Council is an umbrella organization of municipal councils of Jewish settlements in the West Bank , known by the Hebrew acronym Yesha.The Chairman of the Yesha Council is Dani Dayan, elected in July 2007...
have "fiercely condemned" the "price tag" attacks, against either Palestinians or Israeli security forces A Haaretz editorial expressed scepticism over Yesha declarations, asserting that the response of condemnation to an earlier episode was marked by 'feigned and hypocritical shock'.
Some settler leaders who have publicly expressed their opposition to some price tag incidents include Danny Dayan, Chairman of the Yesha Council, and Pinhas Wallerstein, former secretary general of the Yesha Council.
Elyakim Haetzni
Elyakim Haetzni
Elyakim Haetzni is an Israeli lawyer, settlement activist and former politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Tehiya from 1990 until 1992.-Biography:...
, an Israeli lawyer, pro-settlement activist and former right wing politician, wrote that price tag is "an infuriating term in terms of both morality and logic", and called it a "despicable method".
Former mayor of Kedumim
Kedumim
Kedumim , also spelled Qedumim, is an Israeli settlement and a town located in the Samarian hills of the West Bank that was founded during Hanukkah 1975 and now enjoys the municipal status of local council. Founded in 1975 by members of the Gush Emunim settlement movement, its current population is...
Daniella Weiss
Daniella Weiss
Daniella Weiss is an Israeli activist, and a former mayor of Kedumim, an Israeli settlement located in the West Bank. She was first elected mayor of Kedumim in September 1996 and was re-elected for a second term in November 2001....
, whom senior political and military figures reportedly believed was behind much of the settler violence classified as price tag actions after the evacuation of Beit HaShalom
Beit HaShalom
Beit HaShalom, , or the Al Rajabi House settlement is a four-story structure that housed a local Hebron Jewish community of 25 families, youth and yeshiva students. The structure is located on the main road linking Kiryat Arba to the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron...
, is on record as rejecting the policy, saying that it had diverted settlers from what she considered to be their most important task - setting up additional caravans and tents to lay claim to ever more hilltops in the West Bank. She stated that the only "price tag" action acceptable to her is the establishment of a new outpost in response to every outpost that had been demolished by Israeli authorities.
According to a Ynet
Ynet
Ynet is the most popular Israeli news and general content website. It is owned by the same conglomerate that operates Yediot Ahronot, the country's secondleading daily newspaper...
-Gesher survey conducted in March 2011, it was found that 46% of Israelis believe that “price tag” attacks are justified to a certain extent. A breakdown of attitudes among religious national and ultra-orthodox respondents revealed that a large majority are supportive of such price-tag attacks, with 70% of Orthodox and 71% religious nationalists Jews surveyed justifying the policy. Ori Nir of Peace Now evaluated the poll as indicating significant support for violent actions among the Israeli public, yet estimated that it is likely that the timing of the poll influenced the respondents' views. Israelis were still under the influence of the Fogel family massacre, when five Jewish family members, including young children, were massacred in their beds on a Sabbath.
In a recent analysis Zeev Sternhell
Zeev Sternhell
Zeev Sternhell is an Israeli historian and one of the world's leading experts on Fascism. Sternhell headed the Department of Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and writes for Haaretz newspaper.-Biography:...
argues that while the vast majority in Israel is disgusted by these attacks, and the right is distancing itself from those torching mosques, there is little evidence that they condemn the daily harassment of Palestinians by settlers. The "price tag hooligans" are, he maintains, 'the vanguard of the entire settlement movement settler' and 'are increasingly reminiscent of phenomena in Europe in the interwar period.'
Support and opposition among Israeli Rabbis
The vast majority of YeshaYesha
Yesha is a Hebrew acronym for "Judea, Samaria Gaza" , and is one of a number of terms used to describe the areas military occupied by Israel after the Six-Day War of June 1967...
rabbis and settlers condemn it both on moral grounds, prohibiting harm to innocent people and due to the Halachic prohibition
Halakha
Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...
which such actions, and on practical grounds, due to the fear that such acts are actually harmful to the settlement movement in the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
.
Rabbis who have publicly expressed their opposition include Yuval Cherlow,Haim Druckman, Nahum Rabinovich
Nahum Rabinovich
Nahum Eliezer Rabinovich is a prominent Israeli Orthodox rabbi and posek, and head of Yeshivat Birkat Moshe in Maale Adumim. He was born in Montreal, Canada. His late daughter is Dina Rabinovitch.-Studies:...
, Shlomo Aviner
Shlomo Aviner
Rabbi Shlomo Chaim Ha-Cohain Aviner is the rosh yeshiva of the Ateret Yerushalayim yeshiva in Jerusalem and the rabbi of Bet El. He is considered one of the spiritual leaders of the Religious Zionist movement.-Background:Ha-Rav Shlomo Chaim Ha-Cohain Aviner was born in 5703 in German-occupied...
, Aharon Lichtenstein
Aharon Lichtenstein
Aharon Lichtenstein is a noted Orthodox rabbi and rosh yeshiva.Rabbi Lichtenstein was born in Paris, France, but grew up in the United States, studied in Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin under Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner...
, Yaakov Medan, Eliakim Levanon, Avichai Rontzki
Avichai Rontzki
Rabbi Avichai Rontzki , born October 10, 1951, is the former Chief Military Rabbi of the Israel Defence Forces. He served in the position from 2006 to 2010, with a rank of Brigadier General. His predecessor in that position was Rabbi Israel Weiss. Rontzki is also the rosh yeshiva of the Hesder...
, Menachem Froman
Menachem Froman
Rabbi Menachem Froman, also Menahem or Fruman , is an Israeli Orthodox rabbi and a peacemaker and negotiator with close ties to Palestinian religious leaders from the PLO and Hamas. A founding member of Gush Emunim, he serves today as the chief rabbi of Tekoa in the West Bank...
, Elchanan Ben-Nun, Benny Lau, Samuel Reiner and Haim Navon.
According to the Israeli journalist Nadav Shragai, there is no Israeli leader or rabbi who openly supports this policy, yet some of the young activists who carry out these acts are students of the rabbis Yitzchak Ginsburgh
Yitzchak Ginsburgh
Yitzchak Ginzburg is an American born Israeli rabbi. He is a follower of the Chabad Lubavich movement and currently Rosh Yeshivah of the Od Yosef Chai Yeshivah in the Settlement Yitzhar in the West Bank, and the leader of the kabbalistic Gal Einai organization. He has published numerous books...
, David Dudkavich and Yitzhak Shapira
Yitzhak Shapira
Yitzhak Shapira is an Israeli rabbi who in 2009 published a book in which he writes that it is permissible for Jews to kill non-Jews who threaten Israel...
, who head the "Od Yosef Chai" Yeshiva
Yeshiva
Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...
in the Israeli settlement of Yitzhar
Yitzhar
Yitzhar is an Israeli settlement located in the West Bank south of the city of Nablus just off Route 60, north of the Tapuach Junction. The predominantly Orthodox Jewish community with a population of 895 is within the municipal jurisdiction of the Shomron Regional Council...
. In an interview on Galei Tzahal in February 2010, Rabbi Ginsburgh explicitly called to refrain from violence against Palestinians. Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira
Yitzhak Shapira
Yitzhak Shapira is an Israeli rabbi who in 2009 published a book in which he writes that it is permissible for Jews to kill non-Jews who threaten Israel...
, while urging a "fierce defense" of outposts, holds the IDF responsible for the atmosphere in which such acts are undertaken, and for implementing a price tag policy against the yeshiva. Shapira, who has called for retaliatory attacks against Palestinians, was arrested in January 2010 for his alleged involvement in the torching of a Palestinian mosque. He denied any involvement, and was released due to lack of evidence.
In July 2011, police announced that they would question prominent rabbis Dov Lior
Dov Lior
Dov Lior is an Israeli rabbi, who currently serves as the Chief Rabbi of Hebron and Kiryat Arba in the southern West Bank. He is also the rosh yeshiva Kiryat Arba Hesder Yeshiva, and also heads the "Council of Rabbis of Judea and Samaria".-Biography:...
and Ya'akov Yosef over whether their endorsements of Yitzhak Shapira
Yitzhak Shapira
Yitzhak Shapira is an Israeli rabbi who in 2009 published a book in which he writes that it is permissible for Jews to kill non-Jews who threaten Israel...
and Yosef Elitzur's book, Torat Hamelech (The King's Torah) which argues that killing non-Jews is acceptable as part of a religious war, constituted an incitement. Security officials said that the book could be used by settlers to justify price tag retributive attacks on Palestinians.
The rabbi of Har Brakha
Har Brakha
Har Brakha is a communal village and an Israeli settlement located on the southern ridge of Mount Gerizim at an elevation of 870 metres above sea level, in the West Bank's Samarian mountains near Nablus...
, Eliezer Melamed, who according to Chaim Levinson of Haaretz, is considered one of the more extreme settler rabbis, used his weekly column in the newspaper "Basheva" to denounce the price tag policy. He wrote, "We don't aspire to private vengeance, but to state vengeance led by the Israel Defense Forces and all the systems of government".
According to rabbi Barry Leff of the Israeli NGO Rabbis for Human Rights
Rabbis for Human Rights
Rabbis for Human Rights-Israel is an Israeli human rights organisation describing itself as "the rabbinic voice of conscience in Israel, giving voice to the Jewish tradition of human rights"....
, the price tag policy is forbidden by halacha (Jewish religious law). Citing Deuteronomy 24:16, he writes that the Torah clearly forbids vicarious punishment, punishing someone other than the offender. Furthermore, according to Leff, when the perpetrators attack a mosque, a house of God, they are also guilty of violating the principle of Bal tashkhit
Bal tashkhit
Bal tashkhit is a basic ethical principle in Jewish law.The principle is rooted in the Biblical law of Deuteronomy 20:19–20...
, not to carry out wanton destruction, as well as the sin of Chillul Hashem
Chillul Hashem
Desecration of the Name meaning desecration of the names of God in Judaism, is a term used in Judaism particularly for any act or behavior that casts shame or brings disrepute to belief in God, any aspect of the Torah's teachings, Jewish law, or the Jewish community.-Hebrew Bible:The source for...
, the desecration of God’s name.
Palestinian reactions
A Palestinian Authority spokesman, Ghassan Khatib has stated that Israeli settler attacks on Palestinian agricultural land are ‘not random events,’ and that they are "condoned and supported by the Israeli government’ who provide settlers with ‘full impunity and army protection while they destroy Palestinian land.’International reactions
–-
- On 9 September 2011 the U.S. government condemned the recent "price tag" attacks in the West Bank and demanded that the culprits be arrested.
- In November 2011, the United Nations Office for Coordination of Human Affairs (OCHA) in the Palestinian territories published a report on settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank that showed significant rises since 2010, and 2009. The report covered not only physical harm to Palestinians, but also property damage such as the impact of uprooted olive trees, damaged tractors or murdered sheep. These incidents include attacks on Palestinians and their property as a means of discouraging the Israeli authorities from dismantling “small satellite settlements built without official authorization, many on privately-owned Palestinian land”, which the report refers to as “the so-called “price tag” strategy”. The report states that 90% of complaints filed with the Israeli police by Palestinians of settler violence have been closed without any indictments.
List of incidents reported as, or suspected to be, price tag attacks
- 23 July 2008 -20 settlers attack the Palestinian village of BurinBurin, NablusBurin is a Palestinian village in the Nablus Governorate in northern West Bank, located 7 kilometers southwest of Nablus. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics , the town had a population of 2,573 inhabitants in mid-year 2006....
, smashing cars and windows and cutting electricity wires, after the IDF evacuated settlers from a residence-bus in the illegal outpost of Adei Ad. - October 2008 - After government attempts to evacuate outposts, settlers unleashed a dog against an Israeli company commander, broke the hand of a deputy battalion commander and punctured the tires of a vehicle of a reserve soldier.
- 4 December 2008 - After Israeli police evacuated settlers from Beit HaShalomBeit HaShalomBeit HaShalom, , or the Al Rajabi House settlement is a four-story structure that housed a local Hebron Jewish community of 25 families, youth and yeshiva students. The structure is located on the main road linking Kiryat Arba to the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron...
in Hebron, settlers said they would implement a price tag policy, and three Palestinians, including a father and son, were wounded by gunfire, 12 others injured and 15 cars torched. Follow-up incidents in which settlers threw stones at road junctions, fired and vandalized Palestinian property, cut down olive trees, and slashed vehicle tires occurred in at least 12 other locations throughout the West Bank later that day. - 1 June 2009 - Settlers blocked the main Qalqilya-NablusNablusNablus is a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank, approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 126,132. Located in a strategic position between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a Palestinian commercial and cultural center.Founded by the...
road near the Qedumim settlement and stoned and assaulted Palestinian drivers trying to remove the debris, injuring 6, after a cell-phone alert had circulated the evening before warning that the Israeli army was about to evacuate the Ramat GiladRamat GiladRamat Gilad is an Israeli settlement outpost in the West Bank, under the municipal jurisdiction of Shomron Regional Council. The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.Located to the north of...
outpost, located east of the Qarnei Shomron settlementKarnei ShomronKarnei Shomron is an Israeli settlement and local council established in 1977 in the northwestern West Bank, east of Kfar Sava. It is north-east of Tel Aviv and north of Jerusalem. In 2006, the population of Karnei Shomron was 6,300...
in the Qalqilya GovernorateQalqilya GovernorateThe Qalqilya Governorate is an administrative area of the Palestinian National Authority in the northwestern West Bank. Its capital or muhfaza is the city of Qalqilya that borders the Green Line.-Towns and villages:* Azzun 'Atma* Baqah...
. Settlers also set fire that day to roughly 1,300 olive trees and 280 dunums of wheat and barley crops belonging residents of Palestinian villages along Road 60 between the Qedumim and YitzharYitzharYitzhar is an Israeli settlement located in the West Bank south of the city of Nablus just off Route 60, north of the Tapuach Junction. The predominantly Orthodox Jewish community with a population of 895 is within the municipal jurisdiction of the Shomron Regional Council...
settlements. No evacuation was carried out. - 20 July 2009 - After a few uninhabited structures in 3 settlement outposts in the RamallahRamallah and al-Bireh GovernorateThe Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate is one of 16 Governorates of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It covers a large part of the central West Bank, on the northern border of the Jerusalem Governorate. Its district capital or muhfaza is the city of al-Bireh.According to the Palestinian Central...
and NablusNablus GovernorateThe Nablus Governorate is an administrative district of the Palestinian National Authoritylocated in the Central Highlands of the West Bank, 53km north of Jerusalem. It covers the area around the city of Nablus which serves as the muhfaza of the governorate...
governorates were removed by Israeli authorities, from over 1,000 to 1,500 olive trees belonging villagers from TellTell, NablusTell is a Palestinian town in the Nablus Governorate in northern West Bank, located five kilometers southwest of Nablus. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics , the town had a population of 4,334 inhabitants in 2007...
, Madama, BurinBurin, NablusBurin is a Palestinian village in the Nablus Governorate in northern West Bank, located 7 kilometers southwest of Nablus. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics , the town had a population of 2,573 inhabitants in mid-year 2006....
, Asira al-QibliyaAsira al-Qibliya’Asira al-Qibliya is a Palestinian town in the Nablus Governorate in the eastern West Bank, located southwest of Nablus. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics , the town had a population of 2,336 inhabitants in 2007....
and JitJit, QalqilyaJit is a Palestinian town in the northern West Bank, located 10 kilometers west of Nablus. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the village had a population of approximately 2,320 inhabitants in 2006....
were destroyed. Cars were stoned, junctions blocked, two Palestinians motorists were injured, and six vehicles damaged near NablusNablusNablus is a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank, approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 126,132. Located in a strategic position between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a Palestinian commercial and cultural center.Founded by the...
in an attack attributed by Palestinians to settlers from YitzharYitzharYitzhar is an Israeli settlement located in the West Bank south of the city of Nablus just off Route 60, north of the Tapuach Junction. The predominantly Orthodox Jewish community with a population of 895 is within the municipal jurisdiction of the Shomron Regional Council...
. - 23 July 2009 - Connected to the events 3 days earlier, over 20 armed settlers from an outpost near Yitzhar entered the village of Asira al-QibliyaAsira al-Qibliya’Asira al-Qibliya is a Palestinian town in the Nablus Governorate in the eastern West Bank, located southwest of Nablus. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics , the town had a population of 2,336 inhabitants in 2007....
and hurled stones at the villagers. When the villagers responded with stones, Israeli security forces arrived, fired sound bombs and teargas at them, resulting in the injury of one Palestinian boy. - 9 September 2009 - After Israeli forces removed the temporary structures in the outpost of Ramat Haregel in the Hebron GovernorateHebron GovernorateThe Hebron Governorate is an administrative district of the Palestinian National Authority in the southern West Bank. It extends south to, and includes most of, the Dead Sea....
, more than 10 settlers from the Israeli settlement of Susiya, went to the neighbouring Palestinian village of that name, hurled stones and physically assaulted the villagers, resulting in injuries to 15 members of a family, including 10 children. After Israeli forces intervened, the settlers returned to Susiya, none were detained, and the outpost was reconstructed that night. - 14 October 2009 - Some 200 olive trees belonging to the village of Al MughayyirAl-Mughayyir, Ramallahal-Mughayyir is a Palestinian village in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, located 27 kilometers Northeast of Ramallah and 34 kilometers Southeast of Nablus, in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics , the village had a population of 2,368...
, were felled by settlers from the illegal settler oupost at Adei AdAdei AdAdei Ad is an Israeli settlement outpost in the West Bank. Located near Shvut Rachel, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Binyamin Regional Council.The outpost was established in 1998 by a group of students at the Sdor Amir yeshiva in Shvut Rachel....
, near Shvut RachelShvut RachelShvut Rachel is an Israeli settlement and a city in the West Bank, located 30 miles north of Jerusalem. Shvut Rachel is located in the Shiloh area in Binyamin. Nearby Israeli settlements include Shilo, Giv'at Har'el, Esh Kodesh, Keeda, and Adei Ad. The village, administrated by the Matte Binyamin...
. - 9 December 2009 - The Hasan Khadr Mosque at the village of YasufYasufYasuf is a Palestinian town located in the Salfit Governorate in the northern West Bank, northeast of Salfit, southwest of Nablus and adjacent to the Israeli settlement of Kfar Tapuach. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, it had a population of approximately 1,761 in...
near SalfitSalfitSalfit also spelled Salfeet is a Palestinian town in the central West Bank. Salfit is located at an altitude of in the central Samarian highlands adjacent to the Israeli settlement of Ariel. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the City had a population of 8,796 in 2007....
was burnt, with 'price tag' slogan written on the wall. In January 2010, several settlers from the Yitzhar settlement were arrested as suspects. - April 2010 - Settlers torched three Palestinian vehicles in HuwaraHuwaraHuwara is a Palestinian town located in the Nablus Governorate of the northern West Bank, south of Nablus and forms an enclave between four Israeli settlements. It is approximately from Jacob's Well. As part of the West Bank Closures system, the town contains the main Israel Defense Forces...
near Nablus. - 4 May 2010 - Settlers torched the main mosque of the al-Lubban al-SharqiyyaAl-Lubban ash-Sharqiyaal-Lubban ash-Sharqiya is a Palestinian village in the northern West Bank, located 20 kilometers south of Nablus, in the Nablus Governorate. The town has a total land area of 12,075 dunams of which 200 dunams is built-up area...
village, its extensive carpets and Korans, south of Nablus. - 12 May 2010 - Fundamentalist settlers torched an 11-DunamDunamA dunam or dönüm, dunum, donum, dynym, dulum was a non-SI unit of land area used in the Ottoman Empire and representing the amount of land that can be plowed in a day; its value varied from 900–2500 m²...
olive orchard in al-Rababa valley, in SilwanSilwanSilwan or Wadi Hilweh is a predominantly Palestinian village adjacent to the Old City of Jerusalem. In recent years a small Jewish minority of 40 families has settled in the area. The village is located in East Jerusalem, an area occupied by Jordan from 1948 until the 1967 Six-day War and by Israel...
, destroying 3 300-year old trees in the grove and damaging many others. - May 2010 - Settlers from AsfarMetzadMetzad , also Asfar, is a Haredi communal settlement and Israeli settlement in the West Bank. It falls under the municipal jurisdiction of the Gush Etzion Regional Council...
burned more than 200 trees belonging to Palestinians from the village of Sa'irSa'irSa'ir is a Palestinian town located eight kilometers northeast of Hebron.The town is in the Hebron Governorate Southern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of over 18,045 in mid-year 2006....
, near HebronHebronHebron , is located in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judean Mountains, it lies 930 meters above sea level. It is the largest city in the West Bank and home to around 165,000 Palestinians, and over 500 Jewish settlers concentrated in and around the old quarter...
. - 25 July 2010 - In retaliation for the government's demolition of two caravans and a goat pen at Givat Ronen, settlers embarked on a price tag mission involving protests, road blocks and an attempt to torch an open field. One villager of BurinBurin, NablusBurin is a Palestinian village in the Nablus Governorate in northern West Bank, located 7 kilometers southwest of Nablus. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics , the town had a population of 2,573 inhabitants in mid-year 2006....
was injured in clashes with the settlers, and four settlers were wounded, one seriously. - 16 August 2010 - 250 olive trees in the villages of Kosra and Jaloud, near NablusNablusNablus is a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank, approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 126,132. Located in a strategic position between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a Palestinian commercial and cultural center.Founded by the...
, were uprooted by settlers from Shvut RachelShvut RachelShvut Rachel is an Israeli settlement and a city in the West Bank, located 30 miles north of Jerusalem. Shvut Rachel is located in the Shiloh area in Binyamin. Nearby Israeli settlements include Shilo, Giv'at Har'el, Esh Kodesh, Keeda, and Adei Ad. The village, administrated by the Matte Binyamin...
, according to an official of the PNAPalestinian National AuthorityThe Palestinian Authority is the administrative organization established to govern parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip...
. - 3 October 2010 - Arsonists, suspected of coming from Gush EtzionGush EtzionGush Etzion is a cluster of Israeli settlements located in the Judaean Mountains directly south of Jerusalem and Bethlehem in the West Bank, Palestinian territories. The core group includes four agricultural villages that were founded in 1940-1947 on property purchased in the 1920s and 1930s, and ...
, set fire to rugs, defaced a Koran, and scrawled 'revenge' on the walls of the mosque of Al Fajjar/Beit Fajar, near BethlehemBethlehemBethlehem is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank of the Jordan River, near Israel and approximately south of Jerusalem, with a population of about 30,000 people. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate of the Palestinian National Authority and a hub of Palestinian culture and tourism...
. - 13–14 October 2010 - Two vehicles, owned by a Palestinians were set on fire in QusraQusraQusra is a Palestinian town in the Nablus Governorate in the northern West Bank, located 28 kilometers Southeast of Nablus. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics , the town had 674 households with a population of 4,377 inhabitants in 2007.Under the terms of the Oslo Accords of...
, and branded with a 'price tag' slogan, according to B'tselemB'TselemB'Tselem is an Israeli non-governmental organization . It calls itself "The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories"...
. - 15 October 2010 - A 500-dunam olive grove by the village of Farata was firebombed by settlers from the wildcat Jewish settlement of Havat GiladHavat GiladHavat Gilad is an Israeli settlement outpost in the West Bank, beyond the jurisdiction of the Shomron Regional Council. It was established in 2002 in memory of Gilad Zar, security coordinator of the Shomron Regional Council, who was shot and killed in 2001. It is considered an un-authorized...
as part of a price tag operation. According to eyewitness Rabbi Yehiel Grenimann, who notified authorities as the arson attack got underway, Israeli soldiers prevented fire trucks from entering to put out the blaze for an hour, and local Palestinians asking for their assistance were themselves detained for three hours. - 19 October 2010 - Rabbis for Human RightsRabbis for Human RightsRabbis for Human Rights-Israel is an Israeli human rights organisation describing itself as "the rabbinic voice of conscience in Israel, giving voice to the Jewish tradition of human rights"....
reported a girls' school at As-SawiyaAs-Sawiyaas-Sawiya is a Palestinian town in the Nablus Governorate in northern West Bank, located 18 kilometers South of Nablus. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics , the town had a population of 2,301 inhabitants in mid-year 2006....
was broken into, and a schoolroom burnt. - 27 February 2011 - In a price-tag operation against the evacuation of Havat GiladHavat GiladHavat Gilad is an Israeli settlement outpost in the West Bank, beyond the jurisdiction of the Shomron Regional Council. It was established in 2002 in memory of Gilad Zar, security coordinator of the Shomron Regional Council, who was shot and killed in 2001. It is considered an un-authorized...
, settlers threw molotov cocktails at a house in the village of HuwaraHuwaraHuwara is a Palestinian town located in the Nablus Governorate of the northern West Bank, south of Nablus and forms an enclave between four Israeli settlements. It is approximately from Jacob's Well. As part of the West Bank Closures system, the town contains the main Israel Defense Forces...
. - 28 February 2011 - Dozens of windshields of Palestinian cars were smashed in HebronHebronHebron , is located in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judean Mountains, it lies 930 meters above sea level. It is the largest city in the West Bank and home to around 165,000 Palestinians, and over 500 Jewish settlers concentrated in and around the old quarter...
in retaliation for the recent evacuation of Havat GiladHavat GiladHavat Gilad is an Israeli settlement outpost in the West Bank, beyond the jurisdiction of the Shomron Regional Council. It was established in 2002 in memory of Gilad Zar, security coordinator of the Shomron Regional Council, who was shot and killed in 2001. It is considered an un-authorized...
. - 4 March 2011 - Settlers from Shvut Rachel damaged roughly 500 olive trees belonging to the village of Sorra, near NablusNablusNablus is a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank, approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 126,132. Located in a strategic position between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a Palestinian commercial and cultural center.Founded by the...
, and stoned homes, apparently in reprisal for the dismantling of several mobile homes. - 17 March 2011 - 5 to 7 Jewish men, using a metal pipe and tear gas, assaulted two Palestinian labourers renovating a house on the edge of the settlement of ShilohShilohShiloh, Shilo, or Silo may refer to:In religion:*Shiloh , a city in the Ephraim hill-country said to contain the Ark of the Covenant*Shiloh , a figure of contested meaning mentioned in the Hebrew Bible...
. A Jewish security guard protecting them was also injured slightly. - 6 June 2011 - A mosque was defaced and damaged in Al MughayyirAl-Mughayyir, Ramallahal-Mughayyir is a Palestinian village in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, located 27 kilometers Northeast of Ramallah and 34 kilometers Southeast of Nablus, in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics , the village had a population of 2,368...
, near RamallahRamallahRamallah is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank located 10 kilometers north of Jerusalem, adjacent to al-Bireh. It currently serves as the de facto administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority... - 25 July 2011 - Settlers torched the farmlands of the village of Sorra, after Israeli soldiers intervened to stop Israeli peace activists from preventing a group of settlers from uprooting trees, according to IMEMC.
- 5 September 2011 - Settlers torched the mosque of QusraQusraQusra is a Palestinian town in the Nablus Governorate in the northern West Bank, located 28 kilometers Southeast of Nablus. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics , the town had 674 households with a population of 4,377 inhabitants in 2007.Under the terms of the Oslo Accords of...
, south of NablusNablusNablus is a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank, approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 126,132. Located in a strategic position between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a Palestinian commercial and cultural center.Founded by the...
. - 7 September 2011 - Settlers slashed the tires and cut the cables of 12 army vehicles at an IDF base, in retaliation for the demolition of 3 homes at the illegal settlement of MigronMigronMigron may refer to:* Migron, Charente-Maritime - commune in France.* Migron - Israeli settlement....
. - 8 September 2011 - Settler youths made an attempt to deface the mosque of the village of YatmaYatmaYatma is a Palestinian town in the Nablus Governorate in northern West Bank, located 15 kilometers South of Nablus. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics , the town had a population of 2,981 inhabitants in mid-year 2006....
, near Rechelim and Kfar TapuachKfar TapuachKfar Tapuach is an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, founded in 1978. It sits astride one of the major traffic junctions in the West Bank. The executive director of the village council is Yisrael Blunder. As of December 2007, it had 800 residents...
, in the Nablus GovernorateNablus GovernorateThe Nablus Governorate is an administrative district of the Palestinian National Authoritylocated in the Central Highlands of the West Bank, 53km north of Jerusalem. It covers the area around the city of Nablus which serves as the muhfaza of the governorate...
in a price tag assault. - 11 September 2011 - house of a left-wing activist in Jerusalem defaced with graffiti proclaiming "death to the traitors" and "price tag Migron"
- 25 September 2011 - Roughly 100 olive trees felled in the village of DomaDuma, NablusDuma is Palestinian town in the Nablus Governorate in the northern West Bank, located 25 kilometers southeast of Nablus. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 2,220 inhabitants in mid-year 2006...
south of Nablus, in a suspected price-tag action. - 28 September 2011 – A grove of 45 olive trees uprooted near HebronHebronHebron , is located in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judean Mountains, it lies 930 meters above sea level. It is the largest city in the West Bank and home to around 165,000 Palestinians, and over 500 Jewish settlers concentrated in and around the old quarter...
, apparently in reprisal for the death of a settler and his son. - 3 October 2011 – Burning of a mosque at the Bedouin town Tuba-ZangariyyeTuba-ZangariyyeTuba-Zangariyye or Tuba az-Zanghariyya is a Bedouin town in the North District of Israel that achieved local council status in 1988. It was formed by the merger of two villages, Tuba and az-Zangariyye. Populated by the Bedouin tribe of El Heib, Tuba is situated near Kfar Hanassi, overlooking the...
in the North District of Israel. - 5 October 2011 - Settlers Uprooted 200 Olive Tree at QusraQusraQusra is a Palestinian town in the Nablus Governorate in the northern West Bank, located 28 kilometers Southeast of Nablus. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics , the town had 674 households with a population of 4,377 inhabitants in 2007.Under the terms of the Oslo Accords of...
, near NablusNablusNablus is a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank, approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 126,132. Located in a strategic position between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a Palestinian commercial and cultural center.Founded by the...
. - 7 October 2011 - Two cemeteries - one Christian and one Muslim - in JaffaJaffaJaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical story of the prophet Jonah.-Etymology:...
desecrated. - 11 October 2011 - The Yitzchak Rabin memorial in Tel AvivTel AvivTel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
was desecrated, when a vandal sprayed the words "price tag" and "release Yigal AmirYigal AmirYigal Amir is the Israeli assassin of Prime Minister of Israel Yitzhak Rabin. The assassination took place on November 4, 1995 at the conclusion of a rally in Tel Aviv. Amir is currently serving a life sentence for murder plus six years for injuring Rabin's bodyguard, Yoram Rubin, under...
" on the memorial. - 25 October 2011 - 20 trees from an olive grove at Beit SafafaBeit SafafaBeit Safafa is an Arab neighborhood in south Jerusalem midway between the Jerusalem neighborhoods of Patt and Gilo, on the outskirts of Bethlehem. Beit Safafa had a population of 5,463 in 2000. It covers an area of 1,577 dunams.-History:...
owned by an Arab family of Jerusalem uprooted, with a price-tag sign posted nearby. - 30 October 2011 - Vandals torched an Arab restaurant in JaffaJaffaJaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical story of the prophet Jonah.-Etymology:...
, and, according to a Tel Aviv-Jaffa city council member, the phrases "price tag" and "KahaneMeir KahaneMartin David Kahane , also known as Meir Kahane , was an American-Israeli rabbi and ultra-nationalist writer and political figure. He was an ordained Orthodox rabbi and later served as a member of the Israeli Knesset...
was right." were scrawled on its walls.
External links
- Israeli settlers vandalize IDF base in first 'price tag' act against army - published on HaaretzHaaretzHaaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...
on 11 September 2011 - 'Price Tag': Olive trees uprooted near Hebron - published on YnetYnetYnet is the most popular Israeli news and general content website. It is owned by the same conglomerate that operates Yediot Ahronot, the country's secondleading daily newspaper...
on 29 September 2011 - Israeli settlers' council condemns 'marginal group' behind vandalism at IDF base - published on HaaretzHaaretzHaaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...
on 7 September 2011 - Another ‘price tag’ attack hits West Bank mosque - published on euronews.net on 8 September 2011