Thursday, May 1, 2025

Bibi Netanyahu says 18 arrested for starting fires: police surprised


The fires ravaging the Jerusalem Hills, scorching nearly 5,000 acres of cherished land, have exposed not only the fragility of nature but also the muddled narratives of those tasked with protecting it, not to mention the Hamas supporters who are attempting to destroy the land they pretend is theirs and which they love.

Prime Minister Benjamin 'Bibi' Netanyahu, speaking with the gravitas of a leader under siege, declared that 18 individuals had been apprehended on suspicion of arson—one, he claimed, caught "in the act" during Thursday’s International Bible Quiz. 

Yet, in a twist that underscores the chaos, police sources, speaking to N12, expressed surprise at the figure, insisting they knew of only three confirmed arrests. The truth, as ever, seems to flicker just beyond reach.

The origins of these devastating blazes, which have reduced Canada Park and its surrounding forests to ash, remain shrouded in uncertainty, at least to some extent. 

One suspect, detained on Wednesday, is believed to have attempted to spark yet another fire in southern Jerusalem, as if the inferno already consuming the hills were not enough. Firefighting teams, 98 units strong, toil alongside the IDF and Home Front Command, battling both flames and the inaccessibility of the fire’s starting points. The Fire and Rescue authority, with a sigh of cautious relief, announced late Thursday that the main blaze had been subdued. But with strong winds forecast, the battle is far from won.

Netanyahu, ever the rhetorician, seized the moment at the Bible Quiz’s closing to laud the heroism of the firefighting forces. Quoting scripture with a poet’s flourish, he said: "As fire burns the forest and as flame sets the mountains on fire," before adding, "I want to express my support for the firefighting forces and all those assisting in the protection of the land. We have detained 18 individuals, one of whom was apprehended while in the act." 

The words obviously carried weight, but the discrepancy with police reports casts a shadow over their certainty.

Then, of course, there is the matter of Palestinian incitement, a spark of a different kind. Netanyahu, with characteristic defiance, condemned those who, while professing love for the land, peddle rhetoric that seeks to set it ablaze. "We are the true lovers of this land," he declared, "and we are the ones safeguarding it." 

Palestinian media channels, he alleged, are fanning the flames of destruction, their calls for further fires a grim counterpoint to the physical devastation.

The Jerusalem Hills lie wounded, their scars a testament to both human failure and resilience. As the winds gather and the investigation deepens, one thing is clear: the land, beloved and contested, burns not just from fire but from the weight of competing truths: those of Israel, aka the actual truth; and those of the Arabs, aka the lie that everywhere they set foot on the planet belongs to Islam.

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