Israeli police reportedly arrested or detained three suspects in connection with fires that broke out on Wednesday near Jerusalem, amid soaring temperatures and fierce winds, and led to the cancellation of many Independence Day events.
The suspects, who were not identified or described in initial reports in the Israeli media, were arrested within several hours of the fires, which forced evacuations, road closures and the quashing of Israel’s state Independence Day torch-lighting ceremony.
According to widespread Hebrew media reports, the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) joined in the investigation into the fires, suggesting authorities believe the fires were the result of terrorist arson attacks.
Fires were also reported near Hadera and Israel’s Coastal Plain.
Halel Bitton, a reporter covering the fires for Channel 14, said that dozens of separate fires have been reported in the affected area.
Ahead of the arrests, calls to set fires in Israel proliferated on social media in Arabic, several individuals who monitor this discourse noted.
One banner, shared online by Ayelet Lash, an open source intelligence activist from Rehalim in Samaria, read: “Set fire to the earth beneath the settlers’ feet.” It featured a drawing of a man wearing a keffiyeh starting a fire near a field on a hill overlooking burning homes.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s national security minister, said on Wednesday that no fatalities have been reported from the fires.
Arsonists, he added, “should be treated as arch-terrorists for all intents and purposes, who tried to murder thousands of civilians, and accordingly, they should be brought to justice in the full severity of the law.” He reiterated his call for instituting the death penalty against terrorists.
“Police will continue their efforts to capture all those involved in the arson terror, and the incitement team will continue to locate the instigators and rioters,” he said.
Knesset member Zvi Sukkot sent an urgent letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanding a curfew on Arab villages and cities.
“As the fires spread, calls are being published on Arab networks to ‘set fire to the occupied forests and settlements,’ and there is a real concern, based on past experience, that Palestinians will attempt to set additional fires in Judea and Samaria and throughout the country,” Sukkot wrote.
