A mosque allegedly torched in a “price tag” attack near Shiloh may have been staged, one reporter revealed Wednesday.
On Wednesday night, a Channel One reporter visited Al-Mughayir, the village where the entire first floor of a mosque was allegedly targeted in a revenge attack against Arabs by “settlers,” as international media reported early Wednesday.
After visiting, the correspondent reported that the story may be false – and questioned the Palestinian version of events after closely surveying the site.
He said that when he photographed the building from the inside, it was revealed that a fuse box under the mosque was also burned – as well as a space heater found nearby.
Although the reporter emphatically stressed that the space heater’s presence does not automatically deem the “price tag” labeling a lie, he also noted that space heaters – which are very common in Israel – are also infamous for causing fires. He added that he could not examine the scene too closely due to security officials cordoning off the site, apparently to avoid confrontations with local Palestinians.
However – just minutes after he saw the heater – the reporter returned to discover that someone at the scene had removed the space heater from the site.
It is worth noting that initial reports from the site noted at the time that unlike in other “price tag” incidents, the alleged “arson” was not accompanied by any graffiti. Price tag vandals tend to claim their attacks using the graffiti legend “Price Tag,” as well as anti-Arab slogans or calls for revenge.
An Arutz Sheva report in January revealed that at least some ‘price tag’ cases were being systematically staged by Arab activists.
There have also been numerous incidents of Arab “price taggings” against Jews though such incidents have received far less media coverage.
On the evening prior to the alleged arson of the mosque in Al-Mughayir, an ancient synagogue in the northern Israeli town of Shfaram was damaged in a molotov cocktail attack which received significantly less coverage.
