Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Price tag attack with smoke bombs on Palestinian family

Suspected Israeli settlers early Tuesday attacked a Palestinian home in a Ramallah-area village in the occupied West Bank in what appeared to be a revenge attack for the arrest of Jewish extremists who carried out a deadly attack last summer.
Hussein al-Najjar, 30, told Ma'an that settlers arrived to his home in the village of Beitillu around 1:30 a.m. and vandalized the exterior walls of the house before smashing in a window and throwing three smoke grenades inside.
Al-Najjar said that he and his wife as well as their 9-month-old son Karam suffered from severe smoke inhalation. 
"The family survived death thanks to the intervention of neighbors who broke open the main door and evacuated the family, who were found unconscious," al-Najjar told Ma'an.The phrases “revenge” and “hello from the detainees of Zion” were spray-painted in Hebrew on the side of the home according to photos released by Israeli media of the scene.
The event comes in the midst of charged emotions over the investigation of the terror attack that killed several members of the Dawabsheh family in Duma  in July 2015. On Monday, right-wing protesters gathered outside the home of Judge Erez Nurieli, who extended the remand of the suspects in the Dawabsheh attack. Security guards have been placed at his home in Rosh HaAyin due to recent death threats he has received.
Hundreds of people protested in Jerusalem Sunday decrying the treatment suspects in the case are receiving from authorities and claiming they are enduring torture by the Shin Bet. During the protest, demonstrators blocked the main road entrance to Jerusalem. Police said some of them even threw stones at police officers on the scene, wounding one. The protesters were forcibly dispersed, six being arrested.

Last weekend, a protest took place outside the Jerusalem home of current Shin Bet Director Yoram Cohen. The protesters carried signs opposing the torture of Jews.
The past few days have seen severe incitement against Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon on social media, due to his backing of the Shin Bet investigation, and his statements that the Dawabsheh murders represent a case of Jewish terrorism. The incitement also targets Ya'alon for speaking in favor of the rule of law and against harming Arab civilians.
The Defense Department security officer gave the Shin Bet screenshots of Twitter posts which include severe incitement against Ya'alon. Among them are tweets in which the defense minister is referred to as an anti-Semite, preying on "defenseless Jews" instead of dealing with "the Arab enemy".

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