Israeli vandals hit mosque, church in occupied lands

Israeli extremists have vandalized a mosque and a church in the occupied Palestinian territories in two separate incidents.

The first attack took place on Tuesday in the town of Fureidis, in the northern part of the occupied territories, when the vandals sprayed slogans on the mosque’s walls reading that they must be closed.

The tires of several nearby vehicles had been also cut.

In another attack, Israeli assailants vandalized a church on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. According to the church officials, the extremists damaged crosses there and attacked clergy.

The incidents are described as the so-called “price-tag” attacks.

Israeli extremists say the “price-tag” attacks are carried out against any Israeli policy to reduce the presence of settlers and settlements on occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank and East al-Quds.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in northern occupied territories, an Israeli man was arrested on charges of threatening Roman Catholic Bishop Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo of Nazareth, and members of his faith.

In a letter, the suspect said all Christians, “except Protestants and Anglicans,” must leave by May 5 and that if Marcuzzo and his community do not obey, they would all be “killed by the heavens.”

The local Catholic Church issued a statement in reaction to the acts of vandalism, saying, “There is a grave and increasing frequency of what are called ‘price tag’ attacks, which, in the absence of any real response, are becoming a dangerous phenomenon, threatening one and all.”

The Church also called for “a thorough and serious investigation of those who incite, on an almost daily basis, against those who differ from them in opinion or belief.”