Description

A Trappist monk stands between graffiti reading in Hebrew, "Jesus is a monkey" (L) and "mutual guarantee, Ramat Migron and Maoz Ester" (Photo: AFP/Menahem Kahana)

Ynet reports on the attack. The Latrun Monastery is located west of the green line, about 15 miles from Jerusalem:

Vandals set fire to the entrance door of the Latrun Monastery early Tuesday and spray-painted slogans against the Christian religion on its walls, including names of West Bank outposts and "Jesus is a monkey".

The Jerusalem District Police launched an investigation into the incident.

The monastery's wooden door caught fire. The abbot, Father Louie, told Ynet: "At around 3:30 am, a monk sleeping in one of the guest rooms heard a noise, went outside and saw the door burning. He entered our rooms and began shouting and waking us up.

"I went outside and saw the entire door on fire. He put out the fire with an extinguisher we had. If he hadn't done that, everything would have caught fire." . . .

The monks appeared very offended by the incident.

"I know there is some tension, but I don't understand why it has to do with us," said Father Louie. "We're Christians and we have nothing to do with it. We try to do everything with love. We are saddened by this incident. It's a shame that some people are unwilling to live with and accept people who are different."

Police officials said they viewed the targeting of holy places and religious sites as extremely severe. "We'll make every effort to bring the criminals to justice," one of them said.

The police have been preparing for "price tag" actions by extreme right-wing activists, which are usually directed at Palestinians, following the evacuation of the West Bank outpost of Migron in recent days.

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Update: July 1, 2013

Israeli held after 2012 monastery 'price tag' attack

JERUSALEM (AFP) -- A court on Monday extended the remand of an Israeli man arrested on suspicion of vandalizing a Catholic monastery in a 2012 attack that shocked the Holy Land's religious and political establishment.

Moshe Orbach, 22, is a resident of Bnei Brak, a city near Tel Aviv with a predominantly ultra-Orthodox population, according to a protocol distributed by the Rishon LeTzion Magistrates' Court.

He is suspected of involvement in an attack in September 2012 in which the wooden door of the Trappist monastery in Latrun was burnt and "Jesus is a monkey" was scrawled on a wall.

The court extended his remand by four days.

The abbey, 15 kilometers west of Jerusalem on the border between Israel and the occupied West Bank by the 1949 armistice line, is one of the most famous monastic sites in the Holy Land.

In addition to the anti-Christian graffiti, the words "mutual guarantee" and the names of demolished outposts were spray-painted on the monastery walls.

This pointed to a "price tag" attack, a euphemism for extremist hate crimes that generally target Palestinians.

Initially targeting Palestinians in retaliation for state moves to dismantle unauthorized settler outposts, such attacks have since become broader with racist and xenophobic overtones.

The Latrun incident was condemned by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Palestinian Authority urged Israel to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger called it a "heinous crime", and the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land urged the authorities to put an end to "this senseless violence" and "ensure a 'teaching of respect' in schools".

Last month Israeli ministers moved to increase the powers of the security establishment to crack down on the phenomenon, declaring that those involved belonged to an "illegal organization", and on Monday Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon ratified the decision.

"This is a severe phenomenon involving indiscriminate acts of violence against Arabs, damaging their property and risking lives, in order to prevent the Israeli government from acting a certain way," he said.

"We must toughen the punishments these outlaws gets, since the results of their actions are disastrous," Yaalon added in remarks relayed by his bureau.

Following a June attack in which 28 cars were vandalized in the Palestinian village of Abu Ghosh near Jerusalem, Education Minister Shai Piron pledged to institutionalize "coexistence meetings" between Israeli Jews and Palestinians in the new school year.

At a Sunday get-together of young Jews and Arabs at Abu Ghosh, Piron said such meetings vitally important and "an inseparable part of the educational system's agenda".

Also last month, graves were desecrated in an Arab Christian cemetery in Jaffa.

In 2012, police opened 623 files on price tag attacks, arrested 200 people and served 123 indictments, an official said earlier this month.

So far this year, they have opened 165 files on attacks, arrested 76 suspects and served 31 indictments, with police insisting that such crimes are a "top priority."