The Deacon's Bench
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.
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