Far-right Jewish extremists are suspected of vandalizing and setting fire to an Arab-Jewish school in Jerusalem, where Palestinian and Israeli children study together in Hebrew and Arabic.  “Death to Arabs” had been scrawled on a schoolyard wall.

Israeli Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the slogan pointed to “nationalist motives”. 

This is the latest in a series of hate attacks against the Hand in Hand school for bilingual education in Jerusalem, the only early education institution in the city where Arabs and Jews learn together.  Three weeks ago, Israeli nationalists scrawled racist graffiti on the walls.  The students responded by creating a banner that read, “There is cooperation, love and friendship here between Arabs and Jews.”

But the criminals came back on Saturday night, scrawling “There is no coexistence with cancer” and “Kahane was right” on the walls, the latter being a reference to the racist rabbi Meir Kahane, who advocated for the expulsion of Palestinians.  They set fire to the classroom used by first graders.

“We’re supporting each other, this just makes us stronger,” said Palestinian kindergarten teacher Mimi, while sharing a hug with her Israeli coworker.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attacked, and claimed, “We are making great efforts to restore peace and quiet to Jerusalem.”

But that’s not flying with critics who point out that Netanyahu is promoting legislation that would decree Israel as the homeless of the Jewish people, which some say would strip rights from Arab, Christian, and others in Israel.

Brian Callan is the father of one of the first-graders whose classroom was torched by idiots.  He accuses the Netanyahu government of “encouraging, inciting and legitimizing this behavior through populist, racist legislation”.