(JTA) — An 18-year-old Jewish man from northern Israel was arrested on suspicion of being behind the burning of a mosque in an Arab town.
Israeli police arrested the suspect hours after the Oct. 2 torching of the main mosque of the Upper Galilee Bedouin town of Tuba Zanghariya.
The man was arrested on suspicion of illegally using a vehicle, and police quickly tied him to the mosque burning. The arrest was first reported Oct. 6 after Israeli authorities partially lifted a media ban on the arrest.
The suspect’s lawyer said that the man denies being involved. The suspect had studied in a West Bank yeshiva and been banned from an area in the West Bank, The Jerusalem Post reported.
At an Oct. 6 hearing in Kfar Saba, a judge extended the suspect’s custody for five days.
