Police probe anti-Arab graffiti, arson in Safed

Two vehicles of students at the Safed Academic College were burned overnight and "death to Arabs" was sprayed on walls.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
Graffiti on mosque 311 (photo credit: Reuters)
Graffiti on mosque 311
(photo credit: Reuters)
Police in Safed are investigating anti-Arab graffiti spray painted on the walls of the Safed Academic College overnight on Wednesday.
Two arson attacks on vehicles belonging to Arab students of the college were also reported overnight.
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The spray painted messages read "death to Arabs," "Kahana was right," and "revenge." The College has condemned the incidents as well as any attack on property owned by Arab students.
Safed has been scene to increased tensions in recent months.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Galilee police said they were treating the recent incidents with the utmost severity, and were working on a number of front to thwart future attacks of that nature.
Police noted that in 2010, two brothers and a minor were arrested for throwing rocks and opening fire at at Arab students residing in dorms at the college.
An intelligence operation led to the arrest of two brothers and a third man. All three were charged by state prosecutors and ordered to remain in custody until the end of legal prosedures "Police in Safed will continue to focus on preventing fiction in sensitive areas, through open and hidden measures, and to prevent an escalation based on tensions between Arabs and Jews in the city and the the Safed Academic College," police said.
The Jerusalem-based Abraham Fund NGO said in a statement, “The country’s leaders, law enforcement agencies and local leadership must stop using the ‘few bad apples’ excuse. Harassment of and violence against Arab students have been persistent since Safed’s Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu publicized racist calls against Arabs six months ago.
The Abraham Fund is seriously concerned that the racist trends in Safed will not only continue, but also worsen, so long as the authorities do not appropriately respond firmly to incitement and violence against Arab students.”