Israeli settlers spark outrage with mosque attack in West Bank village
Israeli settlers torched a mosque, defacing it with hateful graffiti, prompting rare condemnations from officials amid rising tensions
Israeli settlers torched and defaced a mosque in a Palestinian village in the central West Bank overnight, scribbling hateful messages in a show of defiance a day after some Israeli leaders condemned a recent attack by settlers against Palestinians.
One wall and at least three copies of the Koran and some of the carpeting at the mosque in the Palestinian town of Deir Istiya had been torched when an AP reporter visited Thursday.
On one side of the mosque, settlers had left graffitied messages like “we are not afraid”, “we will revenge again”, and “keep on condemning”. The Hebrew scrawl, difficult to make out, appeared to reference Major General Avi Bluth, the chief of the military’s Central Command who issued a rare denunciation of the violence on Wednesday.
Soldiers from Israel’s military, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment, were present at the scene.
It was the latest in a string of attacks that have provoked expressions of concern from top officials, military leaders and the Trump administration.
Speaking at a press conference Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there was “some concern about events in the West Bank spilling over and creating an effect that could undermine what we’re doing in Gaza”.