Police: Wave of arson is ideologically motivated

Firefighters rein in blazes near Haifa and Jerusalem; two houses in Kiryat Tivon destroyed

The spate of blazes plaguing Israel in recent days were ideologically driven acts of arson, police and fire officials declared on Thursday. Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich called the fires “Spontaneous terror acts,” and urged security forces to remain on high alert for repeated attempts

Coastal Region police chief Hagi Dotan told Channel 10 that the police suspect the recent wave of fires were nationalistically motivated. He added that the police are prepared for future attempts to ignite fires in coming days.

Haifa fire chief Arieh Regev concurred that the Kiryat Tivon fire — the sixth in the area in the past week — was arson.

“It’s possible to repeatedly call it negligence, but it is unreasonable that fires break out because of negligence in the same place,” Regev told Ynet.

A forest fire near Moshav Even Sapir, west of Jerusalem, reignited for the third time Thursday afternoon, a day after firefighters extinguished a blaze believed to have been intentionally started there.

Residents were evacuated from their homes to escape the encroaching flames, and 15 fire crews, assisted by two aircraft, combated the inferno and managed to bring it under control as of 4 p.m.

Another fire reignited Thursday near Kiryat Tivon, outside Haifa. Eight firefighting crews were sent to battle the blaze, with the assistance of firefighting airplanes dispatched to the scene after completing their tasks near the capital. By 6:30 p.m. they had brought the fire under control.

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Two houses on Zevulun Street in Kiryat Tivon burned down and others were damaged. Two thousand residents were ordered to leave their homes. All main roads leading in and out of the area were closed off.

Firefighters work to extinguish a fire raging in Kiryat Tivon on Thursday. (photo credit: Image capture from Channel 2)

Another fire broke out Thursday evening near the industrial area of Beit Shemesh. Fire crews that had fought the Even Sapir fire earlier in the day were redeployed to Beit Shemesh to extinguish the new blaze.

On Wednesday, four Palestinians were arrested and questioned in connection with the igniting and reigniting of the fire near Even Sapir that destroyed 50 dunams (12 acres) of woodlands.

Acting Jerusalem police commander Menny Yitzhaki said that, in addition to investigating the possibility of arson, police were checking whether negligence by local hikers may have been a cause.