Jish has about 3,000 residents (data from 2014), over half of whom are Maronite Christians, while about 35% are Muslim and 10% Catholic.The Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries, a panel of archbishops and other senior clerics of the various Catholic rites in Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan and Cyprus, condemned the attack, saying that the Christian community was angered at the frequency of such events and that “ in the vast majority of the cases” the culprits are not brought to justice. “While we declare our solidarity with the whole population of Jish, we pray to the Almighty to encourage them to persevere in the face of challenges and pray for the aggressors and their supporters to repent of the evil of their actions, and for enabling all to live together in safe country in which nobody attacks anybody,” said the assembly in a statement to the press.“We call upon state, civilian and security officials to shoulder their responsibilities both in education and security so as not to allow repetition of such crimes in the future.”"I strongly condemn the graffiti and property damage in the village of Jish. We will find the violators of the law and bring them to justice. We do not accept any attack against our citizens," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded. Hate crimes targeting Arab or Palestinian villages at the hands of Jewish perpetrators are often referred to as “price tag attacks,” a term coined because perpetrators tried to push the notion that such vandalism and acts of violence represented a “price” charged for acts of violence at the hands of Palestinians and even for the government or IDF’s decisions or actions against settlements.In December, Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) officials met with rabbis and educators from the religious-Zionist community as part of an effort to reduce the number of hate crimes perpetrated by extremist settler youth.According to a report on Kan News, officials involved in the meeting underlined the importance of countering what was described as a “growing problem,” after several reports of increased incidents of vandalism and attacks by extremist elements in the settlement community, particularly in the Gush Etzion region.גם הבוקר התגלה עוד פשע שנאה של הימין הקיצוני נגד הציבור הערבי. כולנו יודעים שמקרה כזה ביישוב יהודי היה זוכה מיידית להתייחסות של רה"מ ולמעצרים מהירים, ולכן המסקנה הברורה היא שנתניהו מעוניין בפשעי השנאה ונותן אור ירוק למבצעים. pic.twitter.com/3U66t96CxW
— Ofer Cassif עופר כסיף (@ofercass) February 11, 2020