Israeli settlers are said to have set fire to a mosque in the West Bank

Israeli settlers have reportedly set fire to a mosque in the occupied West Bank. Accordingly, attackers started the fire in the village of Basaria near Nablus last night by breaking a window in the religious site.

The perpetrators apparently left graffiti in Hebrew. The slogan “Greetings from the terrorists” is presumably aimed at US Ambassador Mike Huckabee. He recently spoke of “Israeli terrorists” after attacks on Palestinian families in the West Bank.

The Israeli military said dispatched soldiers were unable to catch the attackers at the scene. She has now initiated an investigation. However, she condemns such attacks on religious sites in the strongest possible terms. There have reportedly been more than 10 attacks on West Bank mosques this year.

The President of the Orthodox European Rabbinical Conference, Pinchas Goldschmidt, called on the Israeli government to punish the arsons consistently. Charges and convictions only occur in exceptional cases; suspects are often quickly released. “All of this creates the impression of impunity,” criticized the chief rabbi. This encourages further violence.

Since the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas carried out massacres of Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023, violence has also escalated in the West Bank. Since then, more than 1,100 Palestinians have died in Israeli military operations, armed clashes and attacks by Palestinians, according to the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry. Radical Israeli settlers have also been committing more violent attacks since then. There are currently increasing warnings that settler violence could trigger a new Palestinian uprising.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. Around three million Palestinians and more than 500,000 Israeli settlers live there, whose settlements are illegal under international law.