The man was caught overnight between Monday and Tuesday carrying a can of paint, and police said they would seek to extend his detention in court Tuesday.
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Paint container seized from the suspect in the spray painting of “There is a Holocaust in Gaza” on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
(Photo: Israel Police )
The arrest followed a report to police dispatch of a suspicious man wandering Jerusalem who then fled toward the Old City. “With guidance from surveillance operators at the David District command center (Mabat 2000) and Jerusalem police, David District officers located the suspect near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City, where a paint container was found in his possession,” police said. He was taken in for questioning.
Just two weeks ago, the man allegedly sprayed the words “There’s a Holocaust in Gaza” on the southern section of the Western Wall and in other locations across the city. Police arrested him at the time, opened an investigation with the approval of the State Attorney’s Office, and sought to extend his detention by five days. He was released at the end of a Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court hearing.
“I reviewed the medical documents and I am of the opinion that there is no danger in this case. It is a sad case,” Judge Meir Troper said at the time, following testimony from the suspect’s family, who said he suffers from mental health issues. During the hearing, the family asked that the suspect be barred from the site, to which the judge responded: “I do not bar Jews from the Western Wall.”
Police noted overnight that the investigation has been ongoing since the suspect’s first arrest two weeks ago.