Suspect hit with terror charge over deadly hotel firebombing in Acre

Prosecutors file charges against a resident of Acre over the deadly firebombing of a hotel in the northern city in May, amid ethnic violence during fighting between Israel and the Gaza-ruling terror group.

According to prosecutors, Hassan Eid, 27, used a rock to smash the famed Efendi hotel’s glass door, then poured flammable material inside and set it alight.

A statement from prosecutors noted other suspects later threw Molotov cocktails into the hotel.

“The actions of the defendant and others led to the conflagration in the hotel’s reception room, which abated after a few minutes. After the fire subsided, others arrived at the hotel with the knowledge that it was under Jewish ownership, and sowed more destruction out of a racist motive,” the statement says.

The charges against Eid are arson as an act of terror and rioting out of a racist motive.

Several other suspects have been charged in the case, but none with the death of hotel guest Aby Har-Even, 84, who was hospitalized in critical condition after suffering from burns and smoke inhalation. Har-Even, a former leader of Israel’s space program and a winner of the prestigious Israel Prize, succumbed to his wounds in the hospital several weeks later.