World

Israel Detains 6 Extremists After Attack on Jerusalem Mosque

Editor’s note: update at the bottom.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Unknown arsonists torched an inactive Jerusalem mosque early Wednesday, provoking calls in Israel for a more effective crackdown on Jewish extremists suspected in a string of increasingly brazen acts of violence.

The Israeli government has vowed to root out and punish the assailants, who in recent months have expanded their actions from the West Bank into Israel proper. Their acts now include arson and vandalism against Israeli military bases as well as Muslim mosques, cemeteries, farmlands and cars, and occasional assaults on Palestinian civilians.

But the increasing frequency of the attacks, the sparse number of arrests and absence of indictments have also generated allegations that the Israeli government isn’t acting forcefully enough against extremists after two years of violence.

An attack on a Muslim site in Jerusalem – the contested holy city at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – raises the stakes further.

The mosque has not been used as a prayer site for some time, police said, and is outside the especially sensitive Old City district. But any attack on a Muslim place of worship is seen as an exceptional provocation.

The words “price tag” were spray-painted at the mosque – a reference to Jewish extremists’ practice of exacting retribution for government action against settlements. Anti-Muslim graffiti such as “Mohammed is dead” and “A good Arab is a dead Arab” was also scrawled at the scene.

Other acts of vandalism were reported in two Palestinian cities in the West Bank, where the military reported that cars were set afire and hate graffiti was scrawled.

Israeli politicians have taken tough stances against Jewish radicalism, particularly after protesters broke into an Israeli military base in the West Bank on Tuesday, damaging vehicles, setting fires and slightly injuring a senior commander.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to “take care of these attackers with a firm hand” and Defense Minister Ehud Barak decried the “homegrown terror,” while acknowledging that Israeli military intelligence doesn’t gather intelligence about Jewish groups in the West Bank.

Netanyahu’s office had no immediate comment on the mosque fire.

Lawmaker Shaul Mofaz, who sees himself as a rival to Netanyahu in the next elections, told Army Radio on Wednesday that the government was not doing enough to stop what he called “groups of Jewish guerrillas.”

“These hooligans are terrorists for all intents and purposes,” said Mofaz, a former defense minister and military chief, directing his anger at the attack on the military base.

“The Israeli government has to exact a price tag, and it has to be painful, expensive and unequivocal.”

Settler leader Dani Dayan condemned the attacks but bristled at politicians’ use of the word “terror” to describe the violence.

“It’s a grave phenomenon that has to be battled, but I don‘t know if it’s terror,” he told Army Radio.

In an unrelated development in Jerusalem, a footbridge to a disputed holy site was reopened Wednesday, police reported, easing a political faceoff that threatened to erupt into unrest.

The walkway’s closure earlier this week was to have been a prelude to its demolition. Jerusalem municipal authorities say it is a fire hazard and structurally unsound and must be replaced.

But any Israeli activity around the contested Old City compound known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount provokes friction with Jordan, the Palestinians and elsewhere in the Arab world. Rival claims to the compound have sparked deadly violence in the past.

The municipality said in a statement Tuesday that the government had called off the demolition plans and will be shoring up the bridge instead.

The hilltop complex is home to Islam’s third-holiest shrine, the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, and was the site of two biblical Jewish temples.

The walkway is the only access point from the Old City’s Jewish Quarter and is used by Jews and tourists, while Muslims use other entrances from the adjacent Muslim Quarter.

The bridge was built in 2004 as a temporary replacement for an adjacent earth ramp that collapsed in a snowstorm. Muslim leaders charge that any work in the area is designed to destroy their holy sites, and their opposition has blocked any plans to renovate or replace the structure on hold.

Israel denies any plan to destroy Muslim sites.

UPDATE:

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police say they have detained six Jewish extremists following a series of attacks on mosques and Israeli military bases.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld says they were detained Wednesday in a raid on an apartment in a religious neighborhood of Jerusalem. The raid came hours after an overnight arson attack damaged a Jerusalem mosque.

Rosenfeld said the suspects, who appeared to be in their late teens or early 20s, were detained in connection to “recent events” but were not believed to be involved in the mosque attack.

Neighborhood residents taunted the police, slashing a police car tire and smashing a windshield as the suspects were taken away.

Israel’s government has vowed to root out assailants who target sensitive sites to protest official policies they feel are unfair.

Comments (22)

  • TRUTHCRUSHESLIES
    Posted on December 14, 2011 at 2:23pm

    Amen!

    Report Post »  
  • COFemale
    Posted on December 14, 2011 at 2:19pm

    Regardless who conducts the acts, they should be dealt with. You torch a place, whether you are Jewish or Palestinian, the law is the law. You are no better than the other side if you commit terrorism against anyone.

    Report Post » COFemale  
  • mrsalvage2
    Posted on December 14, 2011 at 1:25pm

    Baruch Kopel Goldstein is a hero!

    Why else was he hacked to death by the Muslims who pinned him down in a room at the Grave of Abraham?

    What were those men doing with hacking implements if they were not gathering in planning a massacre of Jews?

    Report Post » mrsalvage2  
  • palerider54
    Posted on December 14, 2011 at 11:35am

    For the Christians who have the stomach for it, roll up your sleeves, it is about to get ugly.

    For those that don’t, get out of the way, do what you can from the shadows, but get out of the way.

    This battle between Moslems and Christians is not going to stay in the middle east much longer.

    They hit us on 9-11 and they are going to hit us again, on American soil. Then you will see the true colors of the so called “ peaceful Moslems ” that live here. They are already showing their hate in England and France. Coming to a neighborhood near you, soon.

    Report Post »  
  • sissykatz
    Posted on December 14, 2011 at 10:19am

    I just pray that something could happen that would allow Israel to live
    in peace. Imagine everyday having too fight for where you live and worship.

    I stand with Israel…..

    Report Post »  
    • smackdown33
      Posted on December 14, 2011 at 10:28am

      Start with Israel ending its land confiscation, then allow those who Israel has ethnically cleansed to return to their property.

      Report Post »  
    • COFemale
      Posted on December 14, 2011 at 2:24pm

      SMACKDOWN33!

      Ah, Palestine never owned Israel. What part of this do you not understand. Palestine never existed. They are living in ISRAEL and have always lived in Israel. No matter how much fact you put in front of someone’s face, they are too blind to see the truth and only want to see what they want to see.

      Palestine is a region that spans from Syria in the north to south of the Dead Sea in the south. Please educate yourself and quite being a putz.

      Report Post » COFemale  
  • Jenny Lind
    Posted on December 14, 2011 at 10:01am

    They had best make a decision, at some point they are going to have to take total control of Jerusalem and let the chips fall where they may. They are way too nice, and it will come back to bite them if they don’t get a grip. Being a nice guy is not always the answer

    Report Post »  
  • Copper Catfish
    Posted on December 14, 2011 at 9:14am

    This is so wrong. Places of worship should be respected. PERIOD!

    Report Post »  
    • mike_trivisonno
      Posted on December 14, 2011 at 9:15am

      Mosques act as garrisons for muslim soldiers. The cloak of holiness is not afforded to such places derived through deception.

      Report Post » mike_trivisonno  
    • smackdown33
      Posted on December 14, 2011 at 9:45am

      I’ve noticed that the Blaze has not covered any of the killings in Gaza over the past two weeks, to which this was the response. Those killings were by the IDF, Israel. Hit me and I’m going to hit you back.

      http://www.ifamericansknew.org/

      Report Post »  
    • smackdown33
      Posted on December 14, 2011 at 9:47am

      Note also the jingoism. Those responding to an attack are labeled as ‘extremists.’ Those initiating the killing are civilized. You’re being manipulated.

      Report Post »  
    • 13th Imam
      Posted on December 14, 2011 at 10:12am

      Yes
      Much like Egypt where the Christians are murdered , churches burned and not a word said by Crackhead 33. And Why? should the Blaze do the work of the so called Journalists, in the LSM.??

      Report Post » 13th Imam  
    • smackdown33
      Posted on December 14, 2011 at 10:26am

      All should be covered. All of the atrocities, which you have listed, have been covered in the press. The perpetual atrocities inflicted in Gaza by Israel are not. That’s the difference.

      http://www.ifamericansknew.org/

      Report Post »  
    • COFemale
      Posted on December 14, 2011 at 2:29pm

      I guess Smackdown forgot about the rockets that were fired from the Gaza strip into Israel, but you are mad because Israel cracked down on them. You two can play at your game, but we are on the side of truth and will tell the WHOLE story as we know it where you only tell the part that benefits you.

      Report Post » COFemale  
  • NOTAMUSHROOM
    Posted on December 14, 2011 at 8:58am

    The Al Aqsa Mosque is a symbol of conquest and occupation, just like the planned Cordoba mosque in Manhatten. They should both be banished and destroyed lest we continue to enable the descendants of Esau.

    It never ceases to amaze me how so few ever speak the truth about Islam and Christianity. We are living in Biblical times and if you can not recognize the battle between good and evil, you are part of the problem.

    Tolerance, just like appeasement, Neville Chamberlain and BHO, will lead to WW3. Coming to a town near you soon!

    Report Post »  
  • mike_trivisonno
    Posted on December 14, 2011 at 8:49am

    A pragmatic program that has as its goal the dismantling of all mosques is a noble pursuit.

    Bring them all down. Let the muslims know that Mecca is where they belong, not Jerusalem.

    Report Post » mike_trivisonno  
  • SpankDaMonkey
    Posted on December 14, 2011 at 8:47am

    .
    They shoulda burnt the Dome of the Rock Mosque on a Friday………

    “Mohammed is dead” and “A good Arab is a dead Arab” and we think there is gonna be peace? Peace will come when Islam’s taken 2 to the head and dumped in a hole……….

    Report Post » SpankDaMonkey  
    • mike_trivisonno
      Posted on December 14, 2011 at 8:51am

      Dismantle it and let the muslims bear the remains off to Mecca, were they can worship Baal.

      Report Post » mike_trivisonno  
  • Secessionista
    Posted on December 14, 2011 at 8:39am

    The noble sanctuary victory mosque should be torn down. Modern man has has thrown out the notion of conquering one another, and this mosque is a sign of such occupation of the israeli holy land by arab invaders.

    Report Post » Secessionista  
  • lukerw
    Posted on December 14, 2011 at 8:28am

    Good Luck!

    Report Post » lukerw  

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