MORE than 160 cars have been vandalised in a Palestinian area of Jerusalem with anti-Arab slogans scrawled nearby, said Israeli police today, in a suspected hate crime.

The vehicles in the Shuafaat neighbourhood in east Jerusalem had their tyres slashed, with slogans like “Arabs = enemies”, “There is no room in the country for enemies” and “When Jews are stabbed, we aren’t silent” scrawled in Hebrew with red paint nearby, photos published by Israeli media showed.

Police said they “continue to search the area for the suspects who fled the scene”.

A local official told public broadcaster Kann that footage revealed the vandalism took place overnight under the cover of rain, and that the perpetrators are religious Jews.

The incident bears the hallmark of a “price tag” attack, a euphemism for Jewish nationalist-motivated hate crimes that generally target Palestinian or Arab Israeli properties in revenge for nationalistic attacks against Israelis.

“Three masked settlers sneaked into the neighbourhood… and damaged the tyres of cars on the main street,” said Maysa Abu Khdair, a resident whose vehicle was targeted, and whose surveillance cameras caught the act.

“My daughter went to school on foot, in the rain.” – AFP, December 9, 2019.