Did Palestinian Molotov Cocktails Cause Jerusalem Forest Fires?
Crime Scene: Israeli police discovered the body of an Arab youth in the Jerusalem forest. Image by Getty Images
Arson is suspected in several Jerusalem-area forest fires that have destroyed nearly 250 acres of trees.
Israeli firefighters on Saturday battled blazes in the forests of kibbutz Maale HaHamisha near Jerusalem that are believed to have been started by Molotov cocktail firebombs hurled from a nearby Palestinian village. Israel Police have launched an investigation.
Seventeen teams of firefighters, along with four firefighting aircraft, put out the blazes.
The fires follow a blaze on Thursday at the kibbutz and on Friday afternoon into Saturday morning in the woods near Kibbutz Tzora. In both cases, fragments of firebombs were found where the fires were believed to have been started.
No injuries were reported in any of the fires.
It’s our birthday and we’re still celebrating!
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news.
This week we celebrate 129 years of the Forward. We’re proud of our origins as a Yiddish print publication serving Jewish immigrants. And we’re just as proud of what we’ve become today: A trusted source of Jewish news and opinion, available digitally to anyone in the world without paywalls or subscriptions.
We’ve helped five generations of American Jews make sense of the news and the world around them — and we aren’t slowing down any time soon.
As a nonprofit newsroom, reader donations make it possible for us to do this work. Support independent, agenda-free Jewish journalism and our board will match your gift in honor of our birthday!
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
