Two Indicted for Arson Attack at Loaves and Fishes Church

JERUSALEM, Israel -- Two of the five suspects questioned in connection with the arson attack on the Church of the Multiplication last month have been indicted, the Shin Bet announced on Wednesday.

Early on the morning of June 18, the arsonists started the blaze, which damaged the roof, a community room, a storage room, and several offices.

The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and Israel Police investigating the attack say the five men are members of an extremist group aspiring to "bring about the redemption."

Police filed indictments against Yinon Reuven, 20, and Yehuda Asraf, 19, and publicized the identities of two others: Mordechai Meyer, 19, and Moshe Orbach, 24. The name of the 17-year-old suspect was not released, presumably because he's a minor.

Officials suspect the gang has been involved in other price-tag attacks against Christian and Arab sites, including an arson attack last February at Jerusalem's Dormition Abbey and vandalism at the Dir Rafaat monastery near Beit Shemesh in April 2014.

According to Israeli media, four of the five suspects have been banned in the past from entering Judea or Samaria (the West Bank).

Meanwhile, a fundraising campaign called Restoring Friendship at Tabgha, initiated by Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, raised 50,000 shekels in one month to help repair the Galilee church believed to be the site where Jesus multiplied the loaves and the fishes.

Rabbi Alon Goshen-Gottstein, director of the Elijah Interfaith Institute, convened a group of rabbis to express interreligious solidarity by raising funds to help restore the damage.

"Condemnation is not enough; after a while it loses its credibility," Rabbi Goshen-Gottstein said during a meeting at the Knesset, adding that financial support helps people understand you're serious.

Among the signatories of the fundraising campaign were Rabbis Nachum Rabinowitz, Michael Melchoir, Shlomo Riskin and David Stav.