Israel Police and the Shin Bet arrested on Tuesday morning a Jewish man in his 20s suspected of involvement in the arson attack on a Jerusalem Synagogue on Sunday morning. 

Security cam footage shows a man walking into the synagogue, lighting an object, placing it at the front of the synagogue and running away. It later turned out to be the seat of former Sephardic chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, who is also a spiritual leader of the Shas party. 

The fire that broke out at the Or Habib synagogue in Jerusalem's Sanhedria neighborhood sparked shocked and enraged comments from across the political spectrum. 

The synagogue was damaged, as crosses and Christian symbols were spray-painted on the door of a building nearby. 

Yosef went to the scene of the crime on Sunday, and was accompanied by Shas head Aryeh Deri, who decried the attack as “a hate crime of the highest level” and called for an end to incitement against haredim (ultra-Orthodox).

Look what incitement and hatred can do

“Enough with the hate. Enough with the incitement. Look what incitement and hatred can do,” Deri said.

“Were it not for the miracle of the Fire and Rescue Authority coming, we could have arrived here today without a synagogue, without sifrei Torah (Torah scrolls) – everything burned. Who knows where this will lead?... Words can kill.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “I am appalled. We must not allow sights that recall dark periods in history. I call on law enforcement authorities to find the perpetrators as soon as possible and bring them to the full extent of the law - whether they desecrated a synagogue or a court.”

Sarah Ben-Nun contributed to this report.