Residents of the small agricultural community of Maor, east of Hadera, went to their synagogue Friday for morning prayers and were appalled to find that it had been vandalized overnight.
The vandals sprayed the walls of the building with the words of Muslim prayers, written in Arabic, and with praise for Mohammed, who Muslims believe was a prophet.
Last month:
Israelis who went to pray at an ancient synagogue near Jericho were appalled to find that the building had been vandalized. Swastikas and pro-Palestinian Authority slogans had been painted on the gate of the building and on an ancient mural.
The synagogue, in Naarin, has been desecrated in the past. However, residents of the region said, the latest incident shows that vandals have “crossed a red line.”
“The historic mural that was desecrated is an important testimony to our people’s history,” said heads of the Jewish community in the Jericho region. “A people that does not protect its past has no future.”
And deliberate arson attacks, seemingly by Arabs in the Jerusalem area have mushroomed:
A rash of suspected arson attacks in open areas around southeast Jerusalem has firefighters scrambling to find a way to stop the fires, believed to have been set by area youths.But desecrating synagogues and setting fires aren't newsworthy when they are done by Arabs.
In the month of May, firefighters dealt with 1,759 blazes in open areas around that part of the capital, according to Jerusalem Fire and Rescue Services spokesman Asaf Abras. Considering that the Jerusalem district usually deals with about 8,000 such events during the entire year, the number is staggering.
Abras said firefighters had opened 200 investigations into suspected cases of arson since May, and in half of the cases were able to positively identify the source of the fire as having been arson. Sometimes multiple fires are considered part of the same investigation.
Most of the blazes are around the Arnona, Armon Hanatziv, Jebl Mukaber and Sur Bahir neighborhoods. Abras said the fires were so frequent that firefighters often were called back to the same area less than 15 minutes later to deal with another outbreak.