The State Prosecutor’s Office filed a formal indictment today (Thursday) in the Yerushalayim District Court against a 23-year-old resident of Beitar Illit who is accused of deliberately setting two separate fires, one of which targeted the shul where the Rishon LeTzion, Rav Yitzchak Yosef, regularly davens. The acts resulted in property damage and posed a serious risk to human life.
According to the indictment, submitted by Attorney Ariel Elouz of the State Prosecutor’s Office, the accused allegedly planned and carried out an arson attack on the door of a residential apartment in the Sanhedria neighborhood of Yerushalayim. He also set fire to the chair and shtender used by Rav Yitzchak Yosef at the Or Chaviv shul, which is located nearby.
To carry out the attacks, the defendant reportedly armed himself in advance with acetone, black spray paint, and a lighter. Late at night on June 8, 2025, he arrived at the apartment building, sprayed graffiti on residents’ doors, poured acetone on a door and the elevator, and set them ablaze. The fire reached the floor of the apartment, but residents managed to extinguish it before it spread further.
Later that same night, the suspect made his way to the nearby shul. There, he poured acetone on the chair used by the Rishon LeTzion and ignited it. The flames quickly spread, causing significant damage: the chair was completely destroyed, the shtender was badly burned, sifrei kodesh were harmed, and the air conditioning and electrical system of the shul sustained major damage.
In its statement, the Prosecutor’s Office announced that it is requesting the court to hold the accused in custody until the conclusion of the legal proceedings. The statement also emphasized that a court-issued gag order remains in effect prohibiting the publication of the defendant’s name.
{Matzav.com Israel}
