Three members of the Lehava anti-assimilation organization are suspected of having set fire to the bilingual Jewish-Arab school in the Katamon neighborhood of Jerusalem and spray painting anti-Arab and anti-assimilation graffiti on its walls two weeks ago. The three young men -- 18-year-old Yitzhak Gabay of Jerusalem, and brothers Nahman and Shlomo Twito, 18 and 20 respectively, from Beitar Illit -- were arrested on Dec. 6 in a joint effort between the Shin Bet security agency and the Israel Police's central unit. All three suspects said their goal in starting the fire was to raise awareness of the struggle against coexistence and assimilation. A Shin Bet official stressed, "This serious incident follows a series of violent incidents in which Kahanist [referring to late radical right-wing militant Rabbi Meir Kahane] ideologues belonging to the Lehava group have been involved." The fire caused serious damage to several classrooms and the graffiti found on the school's walls read "death to Arabs," "enough assimilation," "you cannot coexist with cancer" and "Kahane was right." Immediately following the arson, Jerusalem District Police Commander Moshe Edri recommended the transfer of the case to the Central Police Command's Nationalist Crimes Unit, which then coordinated with the Shin Bet in an intensive investigation that began with reviewing security camera footage from the scene of the crime. The three young men are known to the police from previous incidents, among them the protest at a recent Jewish-Arab wedding. Their attorneys, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Avichai Hajbi, who have already said they would work to have their clients' confessions disqualified, said in a statement: "This was shameful conduct on the part of the Shin Bet and the police, who did everything they could to extract confessions from the suspects, including using threats, emotional pressure and abuse. "We are certain that when the time comes, after the confessions are examined, they will be found to be worthless." Benzi Gopstein, the head of Lehava, said, "Lehava only operates lawfully. The Shin Bet is trying to frame the organization." Meanwhile, it was found on Thursday that the fire last month in a mosque in the town of al-Mughayir, near Ramallah, appears to have been the result of an electrical issue, despite initial claims that it was a settler attack. The conclusion was reached following an extensive investigation by the Jerusalem fire department, which was presented to both the Judea and Samaria District Police and the Shin Bet.
The suspects confessed to the crimes during a Shin Bet investigation, and one of them reenacted the crime, explaining how they were able to enter the school's locked compound before starting the fire.
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3 arrested in burning of bilingual Jerusalem school
All three suspects, who belong to the Lehava anti-assimilation organization, say their goal in starting the fire was to raise awareness of the struggle against coexistence and assimilation • Lehava head: "The Shin Bet is trying to frame the organization."