Graffiti Threats and Incitement Spray-Painted Outside News 12 Offices

Nazi-style graffiti, threats and severe incitement were spray-painted overnight, between Tuesday and Wednesday, in the Bizaron neighborhood of Tel Aviv outside the News 12 newsroom. The graffiti targeted journalists Guy Peleg, Raviv Drucker and Amnon Abramovich, as well as former Military Advocate General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi. Among the phrases painted on the walls was, "Peace to the traitors. Peleg, Drucker, Abramovich, criminals, you will pay with the blood of your loved ones," alongside references to channel numbers 11, 12 and 13. In addition, a grave message was written against the former military prosecutor: "Removal of the Military Advocate General's insignia together with her head." News 12 strongly condemned the act and demanded that the authorities open an immediate investigation: "We call on the Israel Police to act quickly against the offender who continues to incite violence against journalists of the news company and colleagues in the free press. This is not the first time that such a message has been spray-painted. This time it is a direct and clear threat, and it is a warning sign that law enforcement authorities must take with full seriousness and act immediately accordingly." One of the spray-painted messages, photo: Bar Peleg

The Israeli public broadcaster Kan also addressed the inciting graffiti and said: "It is impossible to view the event in isolation from the ongoing attempts to delegitimize the free Israeli media and the attempts to harm its independence and weaken it. We call on the police, which did not act forcefully in similar previous cases, to act immediately to identify the inciters and bring them to justice." News 13 also condemned the incident: "The graffiti discovered this morning is another, serious step in the campaign of incitement and vilification against journalists and media outlets in Israel. We call on the Israel Police, not for the first time, to act decisively to locate those responsible for the act and bring them to justice. To anyone engaged in spreading hatred, threats and incitement, we say: stop before things end in loss of human life. News 13 contacted the police this morning and filed a complaint on the matter."

Following the posting of various messages on social media, police from the Ayalon District located the graffiti in the field and were summoned to the scene. The police view the incidents seriously and note that no formal complaint has yet been received over the graffiti, but as part of the investigation opened, officers are now collecting surveillance footage from security cameras in the area in an attempt to track down the perpetrators.

It should be noted that this is not the first time recently that such harsh messages have been written outside media studios, and over the past year alone there have been at least three cases of violent graffiti outside television channel studios. A few months ago, an unidentified person sprayed the words "The blood of the traitors will still be made available for publication" on the Channel 13 building in the Ramat Hahayal neighborhood of Tel Aviv. Shortly afterward, police arrested a Ramat Gan resident in his 40s on suspicion of carrying out the act, and he was later released. In addition, about five months ago, graffiti reminiscent of the font sprayed overnight was painted outside the Galatz studios in Jaffa, when the wall outside the studio read: "The serpent's head, the High Court, the prosecution, the Police Internal Investigations Department, the secular heresy, must be removed. Your time is limited, your days are numbered."