50,000 chickens burned alive in suspected arson attack in northern Israel

Some 50,000 chickens were burned alive early Friday in a suspected arson attack targeting a farming community in northern Israel.

Four chicken coops in Bethlehem of the Galilee were torched in the incident, causing an estimated NIS 4 million (over $1.1 million) in damages, according to the Walla news site.

Police opened an investigation into the suspected arson.

A number of Israeli lawmakers offered words of support to Bethlehem of the Galilee and the moshav resident who owned the chicken coops.

“This is intentional arson and agricultural terror of some of the worst we’ve seen,” Zionist Union MK Eitan Broshi, a former head of the Jezreel Valley Regional Council where the moshav is located, wrote on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/MKBroshi/status/1048174659554836480

Likud MK Sharren Heskel also condemned the incident and called for the Shin Bet security agency to establish a unit to deal with “agricultural terror.”

“We can’t wait until a human life is harmed,” she tweeted.

Israeli media have used the term “agricultural terror” to describe suspected attacks on farms and agricultural equipment, though it is not always clear whether the motive is nationalist or criminal in nature.