An Arab working in the Geulah branch of the famous Hevron Yeshiva has been arrested after threatening to carry out a terrorist attack in Jerusalem.

The Arab made the threat after he was fired from his job. Taking no chances, Jerusalem policemen arrested him on Sunday morning and are now questioning him.

After the murderous attack by a Jerusalem Arab in Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav Kook four months ago, leading Torah authority Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky of Bnei Brak issued a Jewish legal ruling banning the employment of Arab workers by Jews - and especially in yeshivas.



“After all, we are at war with them," the Rabbi explained. "Are there not Jews who can work and make a living?”



Hiring Jews is a Form of Charity

Some rabbis have ruled that given the disparity between the cost of an Arab worker and a Jewish one, one must hire the latter and pay the difference in salary out of the money that one would normally give to charity.



The management of the Hevron yeshiva, in line with other yeshivot, decided to follow Rabbi Kanievsky's ruling. It did not take steps to actually implement it, however, until the bulldozer terrorist attack in Jerusalem earlier this month.  Three Jews were murdered in the attack, in which an eastern Jerusalem Arab driving a bulldozer plowed into cars and buses on crowded Jaffa Rd.

Worker Praises Terrorism

Following that attack, the yeshiva informed its Arab worker that his services were no longer required. The worker was later reported as having praised the bulldozer attack, and its perpetrator, in front of several students.  He was also reported as threatening to carry out a similar attack.

Sunday morning, students noticed that the fired Arab worker had returned to the yeshiva, and the police were called to the scene.  A Jerusalem Police official told the hareidi-religious news site ladaat.net that the man was arrested, but "as of now, it appears that the man made the threats merely out of anger."