B’nei Brak resident arrested for price tag attack on monastery

JERUSALEM (JTA) — A resident of B’nei Brak was arrested in connection with the arson and vandalism attack on a Christian monastery.

The suspect, 22, identified by the daily Haaretz as a Jewish right-wing activist, was arrested on Monday. He is suspected of the September 2012 attack on the Latrun Monastery.

In the attack, the door of the monastery was set alight, and the names of West Bank outposts were spray-painted on the walls along with the epithet “Jesus is a monkey.” The attack drew international condemnation.

The incident was labeled a ‘price tag’ attack in response to the evacuation last summer of Migron, a West Bank outpost. Price tag refers to the strategy that extremists have adopted to exact a price in attacks on Palestinians and Arabs in retribution for settlement freezes and demolitions, or for Palestinian attacks on Jews.  Several recent price tag attacks have struck Christian sites.

The arrested man had an administrative restraining order issued against him, preventing him from traveling to the West Bank, according to Haaretz.