The Jewish terrorist underground group Sicari’i has claimed credit for setting fire Sunday to a storeroom at the Dubek cigarette factory in Bnei Brak, a heavily religious town north of Tel Aviv.
An anonymous telephone caller claiming to represent the group told the newspaper Yediot Achronot that the fire was set because “Dubek employs Arabs.”
The blaze was quickly put out and did little damage.
The authorities originally thought the arson might have been the work of an anti-smoking activist, since Dubek holds the cigarette monopoly in Israel.
But after the telephone call, the incident joined a list of arson attacks that have been blamed on the mysterious terror group.
Sicari’i takes its name from a band of thugs in the Temple era who murdered Jews they thought were traitors or heathens.
The modern-day group, which police have been unable to trace, surfaced a few months ago, claiming credit for setting fire to the front doors of the homes of several left-wing Israeli personalities it regards as anti-Israel.
The most recent victim was Amos Schocken, publisher of the Ha’aretz and Hadashot newspapers, whose front door was set on fire April 24 because his papers were considered too liberal by the extremists.
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