The investigation into the car fire on Shoham Street in the Avnei Chen neighborhood of Harish has developed, with police arresting a 41-year-old city resident overnight on suspicion of property damage and vehicle arson.
The blaze was first reported to Magen David Adom's Sharon regional dispatch at 11:36 p.m. on Wednesday. Emergency medical and first-response teams secured the area while firefighting crews worked to put out the flames. No physical injuries were reported.
The suspect was detained at around 1:00 a.m. and brought the same morning before the Magistrate's Court in Hadera. Police asked to extend his detention by five days, arguing that further investigative steps were required.
According to local reporting, the suspicion centers on a publicized business dispute between the suspect and the owner of the vehicle. During the hearing it emerged that a request for a restraining order against threatening harassment between the two parties had been filed with the court that same morning.
The defense argued that the suspect had cooperated fully, handing over his mobile phone and its access code and presenting security-camera footage from his residential building. According to the defense, the footage showed him entering his home at around 10:00 p.m. and not leaving before officers arrived.
Judge Ehud Kaplan noted that the case file contains a video of the incident in which the suspect cannot be identified. He found that, at this stage, there is a reasonable but low-intensity suspicion, and that a single investigative action is needed to examine the alibi claim.
The court rejected the request for a five-day extension and ordered the suspect held only until 8:00 p.m. that day, after which he could be released from the police station under conditions set by a police officer — potentially including being barred from the area of the incident. Police did not appeal the decision.
The suspect's attorney, Tamir Weitzman, welcomed the ruling, saying his client had cooperated from the outset and expressing confidence that the investigation would ultimately clear him.
