Police investigators believe the Tuesday night arson attack against a Lod shul was a hate crime, directing them to look for an Arab suspect.

When Avner Chacham, the gabbai of the Das Moshe V’Yisrael Shul in Lod arrived for shachris on Wednesday morning, he was horrified to see the shul had been badly damaged in a fire. Siddurim and other seforim were destroyed, as was the bima. “They burned my neshama along with the shul” cried Chacham, quickly adding a miracle had occurred, pointing out the sifrei torah were undamaged in the major blaze which apparently went unnoticed during the night.

Police believe Arab youths were responsible for the attack. Police believe they broke a window and threw a firebomb inside. The shul was engulfed in flames but apparently, the fire went unnoticed until it extinguished itself, to be found in the morning by Chacham.

According to Chacham, the shul has been active for 40 years, and there was not a single day without a minyan. “Jews would never dare to target a mosque,” stated Chacham in a pained voice.

The rav of the shul, Rabbi Daniel Edri [Rav Ovadia Yosef’s Shlita son-in-law,] stared “the shul is located in the heart of a mixed neighborhood. This represents crossing a red line and authorities may not permit this to pass quietly or with forgiveness.”

On Wednesday night, Chacham and his friends began raising funds to repair the shul, with damage estimated to be at least NIS tens of thousands. Police on Thursday announced two 15-year-olds are in custody as the main suspects in the case.

This latest hate attack follows an arson attack (reported HERE on YWN) against the city’s hesder yeshiva.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)