One person was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of breaking into a landmark Jerusalem church and trying to set it on fire earlier in the day, police said, noting that the incident did not appear to have been a religiously motivated attack. A guard at the Russian Orthodox Church of the Ascension on Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives reported that the building had been broken into and damaged, apparently by a fire. Police confirmed that the door to the church entrance had been broken through and that extensive soot suggested attempted arson. However, police said it appeared to be motivated “by a local dispute.” They did not elaborate.
Sacred site in Holy Land, Church of the Ascension, damaged by fire

Deacon Greg Kandra - published on 03/09/17
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