Suspect in Western Wall graffiti case caught vandalizing again

The same man had been arrested earlier in August for defacing the stones of the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the walls of Jerusalem’s Great Synagogue.

By Pesach Benson, TPS

A 27-year-old Jerusalem resident was re-arrested Sunday afternoon after attempting to spray graffiti reading “There is a Holocaust in Gaza” near the city’s bus station just days after a judge released him despite a series of similar acts at the Western Wall and other sites.

Police said they were alerted by the light rail control center to a man spraying graffiti opposite the Central Bus Station.

Officers were dispatched, but the suspect fled into the bus station and boarded an intercity bus. He was detained by security guards and handed over to police.

“This suspect has been involved in repeated acts of vandalism across the city,” Jerusalem District Police said in a statement. “He was quickly located and arrested thanks to the swift response of officers and station security.”

The same man had been arrested earlier in August for defacing the stones of the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the walls of Jerusalem’s Great Synagogue.

In those incidents, he sprayed the same slogan. He was questioned on suspicion of insulting religion, confessed, and expressed remorse.

At the time, police asked the court to remand him in custody for five days, but a Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court judge rejected the request, ruling that the man did not pose a danger to the public.

Calling it a “sad case,” the judge noted the suspect’s mental condition and ordered his release to psychiatric care.

While the court barred the suspect from entering the Great Synagogue for two weeks, it declined to issue a similar order for the Western Wall.

“I will not remove a Jew from the Western Wall,” the judge said at the time. The man’s re-arrest came less than a week after that decision.

The police said they intend to seek his detention once again.

Separately, police announced the arrest of a 27-year-old Netanya woman suspected of setting a fire in Jerusalem’s Valley of the Cross “in response to the war in Gaza.”

She was found to have a psychiatric history and was sent for evaluation. Her detention was extended until Wednesday.

Authorities stressed that while both suspects are undergoing psychiatric review, their actions represent “serious and dangerous offenses” that disrupt public order and desecrate holy sites.