Hundreds protest racist attack on mosque in Umm el-Fahm

Hundreds of residents of Umm el-Fahm held a demonstration on Monday afternoon against a recent act of vandalism on a mosque in the city. The High Follow-Up Committee for Arab citizens of Israel announced the protest event after the city’s Abu-Bakr Al-Siddiq mosque was vandalized on Friday. Protesters claimed that police forces have not done enough to eradicate the racist “price tag” phenomenon and that the government was not interested in these crimes. Among the protesters: Hadash chairman, MK Muhammad Barakeh.

Protesters in Umm el-Fahm closed Route 65 and Israeli police were heavily deployed in the area (Photo: Al Arab)

Protesters in Umm el-Fahm closed Route 65 and Israeli police were heavily deployed in the area (Photo: Al Arab)

The door of the mosque was set alight, and racist graffiti was found sprayed on the walls on Friday in a “price tag” attack perpetrated by far-Right Jewish extremists. On Sunday, racist Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman lashed out at Arab leaders for “cynically exploiting” far-right vandalism and arson against Arab property. Liberman vowed to “do all he can to ensure that Umm el-Fahm will be part of a Palestinian state, and not the State of Israel.” MK Afo Agbarieh (Hadash), a resident of Umm el-Fahm, harshly criticized Liberman’s comments saying they were clearly meant to incite the Arab-Palestinian national minority in Israel. He said that for the foreign minister there is a moral equivalence between burning mosques on the one hand and with his suggestion to expel Arab citizens from Israel to the Palestinian Authority, thereby forcibly cancelling their citizenship.

Related:

Racists spray anti-Arab graffiti on a mosque and try to set its door on fire