Israel Police arrest man for desecrating Muslim cemetery

Tel Aviv, Dec 28 (IANS) Israel Police have arrested one person suspected for desecrating a Muslim cemetery.

The incident occurred in an Israeli Muslim cemetery in annexed east Jerusalem’s Old City.

Jerusalem police said that the 35-year-old is “unbalanced”, and added that he was arrested after they were alerted that a man had “broken the law and disrupted public order by hanging the head of a donkey” at the cemetery.

Police said that the man, when arrested, was with an axe and his accomplice was also taken into custody.

Social media is flooded with the photographs of the head of a donkey hanging from a fence of the cemetery.

Meanwhile, the Muslim Waqf Islamic affairs council stated: "A Jewish extremist slit the throat of a donkey today at the Golden Gate cemetery before hanging it over the Muslim graves," and added that it was "a serious desecration of one of the main historic Muslim cemeteries in Jerusalem".

Israel Police, however, said that it has taken a strong position in the matter and that no one would be spared if found guilty.

It also appealed to the people to refrain from any act that would disturb communal harmony.