A third suspect has been indicted in the arson attack last month on a church commemorating Jesus’ miracle of multiplication along the shores of the Sea of Galilee.
Authorities accused Moshe Orbach 24, from Bnei Brak, of writing and distributing a document detailing the “necessity” of attacking non-Jewish property and people as well as laying out practical advice to do so, the justice ministry said. The document was part of the evidence found during the investigation over the arson attack.
On Wednesday, Yinon Reuveni, 20, and Yehuda Asraf, 19, were also indicted for the arson attack. Two other suspects were arrested but have yet to be charged.
Yinon Reuveni (right) and Yehuda Asraf, suspected of vandalizing the church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes in Tabgha, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, are seen at the Nazareth Magistrate’s Court on July 29, 2015. (Photo by Basel Awidat/Flash90)
The Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and the Fishes, a new house of worship built on the site where Jesus is believed to have performed the miracle of feeding 5,000 men, women, and children with only five loaves of bread and two fish, was set on fire at 3:30 a.m. on June 18, causing severe damage to the church and lightly wounding two people on the premises.
The perpetrators of the crime scrawled graffiti on the church walls. It read, “False idols will be smashed” – a quote from the daily Aleinu prayer and an indication of the anti-Christian animus that motivated the crime.
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