Israeli Arabs should “exercise restraint” rather than protect Muslim holy sites from anti-Arab vandalism themselves, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said during a tour of the north on Monday, in the wake of several recent anti-Arab attacks, whose perpetrators he said should “be declared a terrorist organization.”

Aharonovitch, whose ministry is responsible for the Israel Police, said forces feared local civilian initiatives to protect Muslim holy sites would result in vigilante activity.

“I’m here to say that the police will deal with this, and the city’s leaders and residents should exercise restraint,” he said. “The perpetrators of these acts will be arrested and brought to justice.”

Aharonovitch visited a mosque in Umm al-Fahm that had been torched and vandalized a month ago and met with Khatter Nashed, a dentist in Yokne’am who found the words “Death to Arabs” painted on the door of his practice last week.

“These are nationalist crimes, and I have already asked in the past that [the perpetrators] be declared a terrorist organization,” Aharonovitch said.

Doing so would give the police and the Shin Bet security service additional tools to use in fighting such crimes, including administrative detention and restraining orders, he said, adding that “some of these steps have been taken, and some will be taken soon.”

The minister also pledged to beef up the police presence at Christian holy sites in advance of Pope Francis’ visit to Israel later this month. Anti-Christian graffiti was recently found on a wall adjacent to a church in Jerusalem, saying: “Price tag, King David is for the Jews, Jesus is garbage.”

Aharonovitch also said police were still investigating the May 1 stabbing death of 20-year-old Shelly Dadon from Afula, and had not yet concluded whether or not the stabbing was a terror attack.