JERUSALEM: Three Israeli settlers have been charged with carrying out so-called “price tag” attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, the justice ministry said yesterday.
It is the first time charges have been pressed over acts of vandalism by Jewish extremists that are not directly related to government demolition of rogue settler outposts, local media said.
The three, from the Havat Gilad settler outpost in the northern West Bank, were reportedly the first to be interrogated by the Shin Bet internal security service under the provisions of a 2013 defence ministry directive defining perpetrators of price tag attacks as “members of an illegal organisation.”
They were charged on Wednesday for torching Palestinian-owned vehicles in the village of Farata, close to Havat Gilad, in their November rampage, a justice ministry statement said.
“Price tag” is the euphemism for hate crimes that generally target Arabs.
According to the charge sheet, the men set fire to two vehicles and spray-painted stars of David on village walls.
AFP
