Israeli police summon right-wing extremist over church torching comments

The Israeli police on Tuesday summoned for questioning a right-wing Jewish extremist who made comments in favor of torching churches, a member of the police's spokesperson unit said.

Bentzi Gopstein, 46, is a known extremist settler and head of the ultra-nationalist racist group "Lehava," which opposes inter-faith marriages and supports a religious Jewish state.

Gopstein was summoned for interrogation following comments he made in footage that surfaced in Israeli media outlets last week, in which he voiced his support of the torching of churches in Israel.

Following the footage, Gopstein added on his Facebook page that "the religious law is straightforward: One must burn idolatry," adding that he expects the Israeli government to officially adopt such a policy.

The ultra-nationalist group had protested opposite weddings of inter-faith couples, called upon Jewish business owners not to hire Arab workers, and also protested across the Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade two weeks ago, in which six people were stabbed, and one killed by ultra-Orthodox Jew Yishai Shlissel.

Two youths from the group were convicted in July for torching the bilingual Arab-Jewish school in Jerusalem.

The Shin Bet Security Agency, however, recently issued an internal report charging there's "insufficient evidence" to outlaw Lehava, despite a law banning incitement to racism. Endit