Erdan calls for home demolitions of suspected arsonists

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud) says Israel should use all the tools at its disposal to punish arsonists suspected of deliberately setting some of the fires that have raged across the country this week, including destroying their homes, just like those convicted of terror acts.

In an interview with Channel 2, Erdan says that if law enforcement “can destroy the homes of terrorists who have shot or stabbed [Israelis], then we can demolish the homes of those who committed arson for nationalistic motives; there is no difference.”

Erdan adds that most of those arrested in connection with the fires, some 35 people over the past few days, are Palestinian residents of the West Bank. A small number of the suspects are Arab Israelis, Erdan says.

Twenty-three suspects remain in custody.