Israel: settler charged with hate crime for setting Palestinian car on fire

Israel’s internal security service, Shin Bet, announced today that a Jewish settler has been arrested after setting fire to a Palestinian-owned car last month, the Times of Israel has reported. The 22-year-old settler from the illegal settlement of Ma’ale Efraim, near Turmus Aya in the Ramallah district, has been charged with hate crime.

“This is an act that harms the military force’s ability to carry out its mission and may even endanger it,” said Shin Bet. “Taking the law into one’s own hands and carrying out attacks and hate crimes, especially when these are done against uninvolved Palestinians, harms the security of the region, expands the circle of terror, and interferes with the efforts of the security forces against Palestinian terrorism [sic].”

The criminal settler was already known to Israeli security forces. An indictment charging him with a racially motivated hate crime will be filed this week.

This comes after Israeli settlers sneaked into the northern West Bank village of Jalud, near Nablus, on Saturday, threw sharp objects at parked cars and set at least four vehicles ablaze. Illegal Jewish settlers have recently escalated their aggression against Palestinians and their properties in the occupied West Bank.

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