The Israeli flags placed by the Binyamin Regional Council at Rawabi Square in western Binyamin were vandalized over Shabbat after, according to the council, Arabs arrived at the site and sprayed the flags with paint.
The flags were installed at the square several months ago by volunteers in cooperation with the Im Tirtzu movement and had remained there undisturbed ever since.
The council said the flags were placed to express Israeli presence and sovereignty in the area. It added that the vandalism came in the wake of the incidents in Qusra and amid a public campaign over “settler violence," which, according to the council, is emboldening hostile elements in the area.
The vandalism occurred alongside several other security incidents reported in the Binyamin region over Shabbat, including gunfire directed at the community of Psagot and an attack on a shepherd.
Another incident occurred near Mitzpe David Farm, where terrorists placed a flag with an object suspected of being an explosive device attached to it.
Following the incidents, the Binyamin Regional Council has been in contact with the IDF and is working to return the vandalized Israeli flags to the square.
Binyamin Regional Council head and Yesha Council chairman Yisrael Ganz warned that “a campaign that puts isolated and exceptional incidents at the forefront and uses them to tarnish an entire community causes enormous damage to the sovereignty of the State of Israel and could lead to a serious security escalation."
“For months, Israeli flags stood at the site without interference, but now the enemy feels emboldened," he said. “It begins with the vandalism of state symbols and could end in terror attacks."
Ganz added: “A sovereign state is judged by its ability to protect its symbols, because only in this way can it safeguard the security of its citizens. There is no place in the world where such blatant vandalism would go unanswered with a decisive response."
“We demand a strong and uncompromising response from the IDF," he said. “We must act now and decisively before we pay a heavy price. We will return the flags as soon as possible. We will not allow terrorists to raise their heads and defeat us."