Ark curtain burnt, swastikas daubed at Jerusalem synagogue
Police investigating arson attack at downtown Pit’hei Olam learning center
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleMarissa Newman is The Times of Israel political correspondent.
A Jerusalem synagogue was vandalized with the curtain of an ark holding Torah scrolls torched and swastikas daubed on a wall, police said Thursday.
The police said they opened an investigation into the arson attack.
According to the Kikar HaShabat website, the targeted synagogue was the “Pit’hei Olam” learning center on King George street in the city center, an Orthodox yeshiva catering to newly observant students.
Pictures from the site showed a burnt curtain and badly drawn swastika.
בבית מדרש במרכז ירושלים שרפו אלמונים פרוכת וציירו צלב קרס. נסיבות האירוע אינן ברורות, נפתחה חקירה pic.twitter.com/svdl1bGv4W
— כאן חדשות | רשת ב (@ReshetBet) July 23, 2015
Last month, two teenagers were arrested in the central Israel city of Raanana after a synagogue was vandalized and the parchment of the mezuzahs ripped out, drenched in blood, and pasted to the walls.
In May, vandals spray-painted swastikas on the Eshtemoa synagogue, an ancient site south of Hebron in the West Bank.
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