Peace Now official's home vandalized with 'Price Tag'
"Rabin is waiting for you," sprayed on organization's Settlement Watch director Hagit Ofran's residence; second attack against Ofran's home.
By JPOST.COM STAFFprice tag 311(photo credit: Tovah Lazaroff)
Vandals overnight Monday spray painted for the second time in two months a "price tag" message on the walls of Peace Now's Hagit Ofran's home, Army Radio reported. Ofran directs the Settlement Watch project for the organization, Army Radio reported.Among the messages left for Ofran were, "Hagit Ofran, z'l" and "Rabin is waiting for you." Tuesday evening marks the Jewish anniversary of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin's assassination at the hands of a right-wing extremist. Swastikas were also spray painted on the building.RELATED:'Price tag' sprayed on Peace Now offices in JerusalemJerusalem court issues first-ever 'price tag' indictmentHadash MK Dov Henin condemned the incident in a statement, linking it to what he called incitement in Knesset legislation."Incitement leades to violence. We must stop the wave of repeated legislative initiatives labeling 'internal enemies,'" Henin said.In September, Ofran's residence was spray-painted with the messages "Migron forever," "price tag" and "Peace Now - the end is near."
“They know where we live and they’re trying to frighten us,” Ofran said at that time. “We don’t need to be frightened, we need to take it seriously and be careful, but not be afraid.”On Sunday, Peace Now's Jerusalem offices were vandalized with a similar spray-paint attack and a bomb threat. The suspected perpetrator of the attack apparently buzzed on the office's intercom and said that a bomb had been hidden in the building, the organization said in statement posted on their Facebook page."Tonight, for the second time this week, vandals have attacked Peace Now offices in Jerusalem and announced over the intercom to occupants of the building that it was a 'price tag' attack and in ten minutes the building would explode," the Facebook statement read. "Residents were startled when they discovered that 'price tag' had been sprayed on the building."The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court on Monday issued the first-ever indictment for a "price tag" operation, charging two 18-year-olds and a minor in connection to two incidents that occurred in March.
The suspects included 18-year-old Hillel Leibowitz of Hebron, 18-year-old Yisrael Katz of Sde Eliezer, and an unnamed minor from the center of Israel.The indictment alleges that on March 13, the day of the funeral for the Fogel family of the West Bank settlement of Itamar, Leibowitz vandalized an SUV belonging to Jerusalem resident Muhammed Bakrit, while it was parked in the Givat Shaul neighborhood. Leibowitz allegedly punctured four of the Toyota Land Cruiser's tires and broke several windows, causing some NIS 23,716 in damage.Ben Hartman contributed to this report.
