Residents and officials condemned a suspected price tag and arson attack that targeted a mosque in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Safafa on Friday morning.
Fire and Rescue Services who arrived to the scene reported a small fire that was quickly extinguished along with graffiti on the wall of the mosque. The fire was reportedly caused by arson and caused minor damages.
Israel Police have opened an investigation into the incident.
The graffiti on the wall of the mosque read, "[They're] destroying the Jews? Kumi Ori will destroy the enemy!"
Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion condemned the attack on Friday.
"I condemn in all ways the hate crime that was carried out this morning in the neighborhood of Beit Safafa. Things like this are unacceptable and intolerable," said Lion. "I am sure that Israel Police will do all they can in order to catch and punish those who called the disturbance and to assure that incidents like this don't happen."
Lion stressed that "the city of Jerusalem is a city of all its residents, from all the sectors, and incidents of this type are serious and cause direct harm to the fabric of life in the city. We will fight these [types of incidents] in every other place in the city, no matter the sector it affects."
Adel Salah, a resident of the Sharafat neighborhood of Jerusalem that neighbors Beit Safafa, told Ynet, "We are a very quiet neighborhood, many Jews come here and leave and it's all fine. The mosque didn't bother anyone. I don't understand what the mosque did to them. This is the first time that they struck the mosque, but the third time there's been a strike in [our neighborhood]. They come to the neighborhood and damage cars and property."
"Our Sheikhs don't tell us to hurt others, they're not able to. We condemn these things. These settlers crossed a red line," said Salah. He added that the residents will fix the mosque and place guards there.
Another resident demanded that the government and police arrest the criminals who carried out the attack. "What is the government waiting for? Until a murder happens here? If the settlers enter the neighborhood and burn a mosque, they could also murder people," said the resident to Ynet.The Palestinian Ministry of Religious Affairs and Awqaf called the incident a “heinous crime which is evidence of the brutality of the Israeli racist incitement machine towards Islamic and Christian sanctities in Palestine.”
The Tag Meir Forum stated, "The burning of the mosque by Jewish terrorists should be condemned with disgust. Whoever burns mosques in Jerusalem or any other place is asking to incite a terrible and bloody interfaith war."
Two illegal structures in the Kumi Ori outpost near Yitzhar were destroyed last week. The outpost was declared a closed military zone amid clashes between IDF forces and settlers in October. Multiple price tag attacks in the past few months have included graffiti mentioning Kumi Ori.