Emergency personnel evacuate an elderly woman in Haifa, where fires were raging on Thursday. (Meir Vaaknin/Flash90)
Israel has threatened to revoke the citizenship of those found responsible for the arson that left tens of thousands homeless and reaped destruction throughout the country.
Wildfires have been spreading across Israel. The hardest-hit is Haifa, the third-largest city, where 85,000 residents were evacuated.
More than half of the fires were acts of Arab terror, investigators confirmed. The devastation has been celebrated in social media by Arabs inside and outside of Israel.
Minister of the Interior Aryeh Deri suggested revoking the citizenship of anyone convicted of arson.
“I spoke with Interior Minister Aryeh Deri this evening and we agreed to work together in order to revoke the residency of those held responsible for setting the fires,” Netanyahu announced Thursday on Facebook and Twitter.
“Every fire caused by arson, or by incitement to arson, is terrorism,” Netanyahu told reporters at a briefing in Haifa earlier in the day. “Anyone who tries to burn parts of the State of Israel will be punished severely.”
Other calls for punishment included, for example, Transportation and Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz’s idea to propose legislation that would allow the government to foreclose on the home and possessions of anyone found guilty of sparking the fires.
Considering all the destruction, parliamentarian Amir Ohana said it is now obvious that Israel’s enemies “want to destroy the one Jewish State more than they want to establish the 22nd Arab state.”
By: Atara Beck, World Israel News
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