A fire early Sunday at a Jerusalem synagogue belonging to Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, a former Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel, is being investigated as suspected arson. A cross was also found spray-painted on a nearby building around the same time.
Security footage shows an individual entering the Or Haviv synagogue in the city’s Sanhedria neighborhood shortly after 3 a.m., moments before the fire broke out. The blaze damaged Yosef’s ceremonial chair and singed several religious books, which were later recovered with only limited damage.
Suspected arson attack
Police said a report of the cross, sprayed on the door of an adjacent building, was received minutes before the fire began. Officers from the Jerusalem District’s Lev HaBira station, along with forensic teams, launched an investigation and began collecting evidence.
Fire and rescue crews brought the blaze under control and confirmed that no one was trapped inside. Firefighters said the flames spread through an acoustic ceiling but were quickly contained.
“We arrived within minutes and identified smoke coming from the roof,” said Senior Fire Officer Oren Avrahami. “We acted decisively to stop the fire and prevent damage to the holy books. The incident ended without injuries and with minimal damage to property.”
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The motive remains unclear. Last week, Yosef made unusually harsh remarks about Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chair Yuli Edelstein, a former Prisoner of Zion, saying he “should have stayed” in the Soviet Union. Authorities have not linked the incident to those comments or to ongoing tensions over military conscription, suggesting it may stem from internal ultra-Orthodox disputes.
Interior Minister Moshe Arbel condemned the fire as “a troubling escalation and an attack on a national symbol.” He called for national unity and said he contacted the head of the Shin Bet security service to request involvement in the investigation.