Police say "connection with Jaffa graffiti being examined"; Danino meets with Jaffa Arab community heads to ease communal tensions.
By YAAKOV LAPPINJaffa Cemetery 311(photo credit: REUTERS)
Police disclosed on Sunday that anti-Arab hate graffiti had been spray-painted on two buildings in Bat Yam, adding that the messages appeared some time ago.The graffiti read, “Maccabi Haifa doesn’t want Arabs on the team” and “Death to Arabs.” A third message read, “Rabbi Kahane was right.”RELATED:Suspect arrested in Tuba Zanghariya mosque torchingA law enforcement source told The Jerusalem Post that a possible connection with hate graffiti found in Muslim and Christian cemeteries in Jaffa over Yom Kippur – which also made a reference to Maccabi Haifa – was being examined, but refused to confirm that the investigation was centering on fans of the soccer team. “We’re not ruling out any directions. The content of the messages is varied,” the source said.Meanwhile, Police Insp.-Gen. Yohanan Danino met with Arab community leaders in Jaffa on Sunday night to establish a channel of communications and ease communal tensions.The meeting came after violence broke out in Jaffa on Saturday night following the discovery of the anti-Arab messages in the cemeteries.A Molotov cocktail was hurled at a local synagogue after the graffiti was discovered.The Maccabi Haifa soccer team released a statement on Sunday in which it condemned “as strongly as possible the violent acts against Muslims and Christians. The Maccabi Haifa soccer club is proud to be the most popular team among Israeli citizens in general and the Arab community.”The statement expressed the club’s commitment to “coexistence and equality,” noting that many of the team’s players were Muslims, Christians, and Druse.
“We’re very proud of that,” the team said.“We very much hope and believe that police will get to the perpetrators and bring them to justice. These people have no place under our roof,” the statement added.
