Ramat Shlomo yeshiva damaged by firebombs

Police say attack is "out of the ordinary."

By ABE SELIG
Ramat Shlomo 311 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski/The Jerusalem Post))
Ramat Shlomo 311
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski/The Jerusalem Post))
A firebomb attack against a yeshiva in the capital’s Ramat Shlomo neighborhood in the early hours of Sunday morning was described as unusual by Jerusalem Police, who expressed concern.
A police spokeswoman said that while firebomb attacks had occurred inside predominately Arab east Jerusalem neighborhoods like Silwan and Ras al-Amud over recent months, the attack in Ramat Shlomo, a haredi enclave next to Ramot, was “out of the ordinary.”
“There have been rockthrowing incidents there in the past,” the spokeswoman said.
“But incidents of this degree are unusual for that neighborhood.”
According to police, a number of the crude explosives were thrown at the yeshiva, located on Harav Goldknopf Street, on the eastern edge of the neighborhood – just after one o’clock in the morning.
The crude explosives ignited a fire that caused damage to the roof before firefighters were able to put out the flames.
Border Police officers arrested two Arab teenagers from the adjacent east Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat on suspicion that they were responsible for the attack. They were still in custody Sunday afternoon.
Asked if the area had seen an increase in violent attacks since last March, when Ramat Shlomo sparked a diplomatic row with the US after a plan to add some 1,600 new homes there was announced, the spokeswoman declined to comment.
Situated in the northeastern part of the capital, Ramat Shlomo is built on lands extending over the Green Line, and is thus considered part of “east Jerusalem.”