A 27-year-old Jerusalem resident was arrested today by Jerusalem District police officers, after he carried a sign on which was written, “There is a Holocaust in Gaza,” and began spraying the same message on the sidewalk at the Central light rail station in Jerusalem.
The incident occurred in the afternoon hours, following a report received by the light rail control center. Patrol officers from the Lev HaBira station in the Zion precinct were summoned to the scene.
Subsequently, the suspect continued into the central bus station and attempted to board an intercity bus, but was stopped by security guards who handed him over to the police.
An initial inquiry indicated that the suspect had recently been involved in several similar incidents in the city, including spraying messages on a synagogue wall, stones at the Western Wall and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Items found in his possession were transferred for further investigation to the Lev HaBira station.
Several weeks ago the suspect was arrested after spraying graffiti messages at multiple sites, including stones at the Western Wall.
The suspect’s family said he is coping with serious mental health problems and has a history of past hospitalizations.
At the court hearing Judge Meir Yonatan Tropper ordered the suspect’s release and ruled that he would be banned from the Great Synagogue, but not from the Wall itself, “I will not bar a Jew from going to the Western Wall”, and added that “there is no risk, this is a sad case.”