The old city of Yafo
The old city of YafoIsrael news photo: Flash 90

Israel Arabs spray-painted swastikas and pictures of Palestinian Authority flags on the walls of a synagogue and home near the Arab-Jewish Center in the city of Yafo (Jaffa), adjacent to Tel Aviv, according to police. Also nearby is an elementary school where Arabs and Jews study together.

Police added that tires were slashed on a car belonging to a family at a home across the street from the residence of the French ambassador.

There is a small Jewish population, most of them older families, in the area, and relations with Arabs reportedly are not problematic. The neighborhood used to contain a Jewish majority before families moved out and Arabs began taking over the area.

Although one neighborhood resident, a journalist, said that the vandalism was an isolated act, vandalism and violence against Jews in Jaffa have been present for years and are coincident with an escalation in Palestinian Authority incitement that claims all of Israel is “Palestine.”

Yafo Yeshiva administrator Ariel Elimelech has maintained that co-existence between Jews and Arabs in Yafo is successful, but that "left-wingers" from outside the area are responsible for provocations.