In Israel, if an Arab seizes a Jewish man and slits his throat, its an act of terrorism.

If a Jewish person seizes an Arab and slits his throat, its nationalism.

So say the Israeli police.

On Monday two Israeli men, brothers aged 25 and 21, took a taxi from East Jerusalem to their apartment in Tel Aviv.

On arrival they invited the Arab taxi driver into their apartment for coffee.

Minutes later the Arab man was brutally attacked, stabbed several times, and had his throat slit.

Around 4pm in Tel Aviv the two brothers, who were loitering in Allenby Street, caught the attention of police.

On being approached the older brother told police he had killed an Arab man and offered to take them to the apartment where the body was. "I decided to murder an Arab," the man allegedly told police.

"It became clear from the beginning of the investigation that murderer and victim had no prior relationship. The victim turned out to be an Arab from East Jerusalem, and the suspect is a young Jewish man who recently became religious. For this reason we suspected that there was a nationalist motive behind the murder," the head of investigations at Yarkon District Police was quoted by Haaretz newspaper as saying.

"We understand that the suspect arrived in Jerusalem with the objective of killing an Arab. We don't know if he made his plans two hours or two weeks before the murder, but there is definitely evidence that there was planning and thought behind it," the Commander of Yarkon District Police, Brig. Gen. Hagai Dotan, said Monday night.

"When they arrived at the apartment in Tel Aviv, the suspect shrewdly persuaded the victim to go up the apartment. "Once in the apartment, the suspect attacked the victim with a knife and stabbed him to death. It seems that the had been prepared ahead of time," a police officer said.

Ynet newsagency quoted another police spokesman as saying, "All leads are being investigated, but the main lead is nationalistic. From an initial probe it seems the driver drove them to their home and then they invited him to their flat where the older brother killed him."

A member of the Israeli Knesset, Ahmed Tibi, a member of the Arab nationalist party, was quoted as saying by Haaretz in response to the murder that, "an atmosphere of incitement, hated of Arabs, and the escalating racism in the country are fertile soil for this crime."

"The court will probably find mitigating circumstances for the murderers," he added.