JERUSALEM, July 19 (Xinhua) -- Israel's police said Friday that vehicles were vandalized and racist slurs were sprayed in an Arab town in northern Israel in an alleged hate crime carried out by ultra-nationalist Israelis.
The incident took place in Jish, a town in the Upper Galilee whose population composed of Christian and Muslim Arabs.
Residents told Xinhua that some two dozen tires were slashed and hateful graffitis were spray-painted on vehicles and walls.
In photos released by the residents, appears slogans reading: "Thousands of orders won't erase the smile!!" and "Greeting from the restrained," in an apparent reference to ultra-nationalist activists against whom the police have recently issued restraining orders banning them from the occupied West Bank.
A police spokesman said an investigation was launched but no suspects have been apprehended yet. Local media reported that Israel's Shin Bet security service also opened an investigation into the case.
Head of the Jish local council, Elias Elias, urged Israel's law enforcement authorities to bring the perpetrator of the "despicable" and "loathsome attack" to justice.
Elias said that Jish is known as a peaceful community and keeps good neighborly ties with all the Jewish towns surrounding it.
In 2017, tires of about 40 vehicles were slashed and anti-Arab slogans were spray-painted on walls in a hate attack by Jewish perpetrators.
The police investigate the incident as a possible "price tag" attack, assaults by far-right Israelis against Palestinians and their property, including mosques, synagogues, and cemeteries.
Thousands of these attacks have been carried out over the past years, mainly in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Most of these cases have remained unsolved and charges are rarely made.
