A 52-year-old Beit Shemesh resident was arrested on suspicion of setting fire to a synagogue and another building in Jerusalem early Friday morning, Israel Police said.
Shortly before 1 a.m., first responders were called to the Clal Building in downtown Jerusalem after reports of a fire.
According to the initial investigation, the suspect set fire to multiple cabinets in the building, causing smoke to fill the area, before fleeing the scene.
Half an hour later, a second call came in reporting damage and arson to a synagogue in the city.
Israel Police arrived at the scene and apprehended the suspect based on eyewitness testimony. A lighter was found among the individual's belongings.
The suspect was taken in for questioning at the Lev HaBira police station and will be brought today before the court for an extension of his detention.
Arson at synagogue of former Sephardi chief rabbi Yitzhak Yosef
Israel Fire and Rescue Authority ruled in June that the fire reported at the Or Habib synagogue in Jerusalem’s Sanhedria neighborhood, where former Sephardi chief rabbi Yitzhak Yosef prays, was indeed arson.
Footage showed an individual setting the synagogue alight before running out of the building. Torah scrolls were damaged but remained whole.
Just a few minutes before reports came in about the fire, police were notified of crosses graffitied on the doors of a building located close to the synagogue.