Price Tag graffiti (file)
Price Tag graffiti (file)Flash 90

Graffiti was discovered Friday morning on the Araq Al-Shabab mosque in Israeli-Arab town of Umm Al-Fahm, leading to suspicions of a 'price tag' vandalism attack. 

The words "Eviction order - Arabs Out" were scrawled (in Hebrew) on an interior wall of the mosque, and a door leading to the outside had been burnt.

"At around 4:30 when we arrived for morning prayers, we noticed that the main entrance of the mosque was torched and graffiti denouncing Arabs was scrawled on the wall," Sheikh Mahajana Shafiq told Walla! News Friday.

"We called the police, who began to investigate the incident. The mosque's security cameras recorded a vehicle arriving at the scene, and showed three men with their faces covered pouring a flammable substance, lighting a fire and fleeing." 

The Umm Al-Fahm police have opened an investigation. 

'Price Tag' or Not? That is the Question 

This is the latest in a string of vandalism incidents in Arab villages over the past several months. Earlier this month, 40 cars were found with their tires slashed in the Arab village of Jish in the Gaililee; four vehicles were also vandalized and graffiti had been scrawled on the Dir-Rafat monastery near Beit Shemesh. 

"Price tag" is a euphemism for politically-motivated vandalism and criminal damage usually attributed to Jewish extremists, carried out either in revenge for Arab terrorist attacks, or in protest of Israeli government policies such as the destruction of Jewish homes in Judea and Samaria.  

It remains unclear whether any of the above incidents were actual "price tag" attacks, however, as an Arutz Sheva report in January revealed that in at least some of the cases, anti-Arab "price tags" were being systematically staged by Arab activists. 

There have also been numerous incidents of Arab "price tagging", though such incidents have received far less media coverage.