Israeli Man Ordered to Pay 2.5 Million Shekels in Damages for Arson at Church of the Multiplication
An Israeli court has ordered a man convicted of arson at the Church of the Multiplication to pay 2.5 million Shekels for damages.
Jerusalem, 12 April, 2026 (TPS-IL) — An Israeli Court accepted the state’s claim and ordered a man convicted of arson at the Church of the Multiplication (also known as the Church of Loaves and Fishes) to pay the state approximately 2.5 million Shekels ($820,000) for the damages caused to the church, which were paid for by the state.
Located at Tabgha, on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee, the of the Multiplication is built on the site where Jesus was said to have performed the miracle of multiplication of loaves and fish.
The court ruled, among other things, that the act was carried out of an extremist ideology of hatred of Christianity, and emphasized that it was a fulfillment of the state’s duty to protect the public purse.
In June 2015, Yinon Elia Reuveni set fire to the Church of the Bread and Fishes, near the Sea of Galilee. In 2017, he was convicted of aggravated arson, vandalism of real estate motivated by hostility toward the public, and other offenses, while another person charged with him was acquitted. The District Court sentenced him to four years in prison, a fine, and compensation of 50,000 Shekels ($16,450). Following the state’s appeal, the prison sentence was increased to 5.5 years.
The Attorney General at the time determined that this was an act of violence motivated by hostility on a religious-ideological basis, and that the arson should be seen as a deliberate attack against the Christian minority in Israel, in the context of the Israeli-Arab conflict in its broadest sense.
