Unknown assailants tried overnight to set fire to a liberal synagogue in east Jerusalem that was already damaged in an attack last month, a spokesman said Friday.
"A guard found burnt rags drenched in gasoline that had been thrown against the synagogue's wall," said a spokesman for Israel's Conservative Jews, who are religiously less strict than Orthodox Jews.
"By chance the synagogue didn't catch fire, but there's a great risk that these desecrations will continue so long as the Orthodox rabbinate does not condemn them," he said.
Israeli police have arrested three ultra-Orthodox Jews, including one who had left then returned to the faith, in connection with the June attack against the Conservative synagogue, which is in the Ramot area of east Jerusalem, which was occupied from Jordan in 1967.
A Jerusalem court ordered Friday that the three suspects be detained for five more days.
Orthodox Judaism is dominant in Israel, where religion and state are closely tied.
The Orthodox do not recognize Judaism's Conservative and Reform movements, which are dominant in the United States and insist on more flexible interpretations of religious law, including an advocacy of gender equality - OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AFP)
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