Police arrested a 39-year-old man Tuesday morning on the suspicion of arson, threats and defacing property—all hate crimes against atheists and non-Orthodox Jews.
The suspect was linked to several incidents between 2014-2016 in which prominent atheist figures and activists were threatened with harm.
Among the incidents the suspect was linked to were spraying graffiti on the walls of a reform Ra'anana synagogue and the homes of central atheist figures, including Professor Yaakov Malkin—head of the International Institute for Humanistic Secular Judaism—whose mailbox was affixed with a knife.
A covert investigation was conducted against the suspect, police said, after several incidents with similar characteristics took place in the central region and Jerusalem.
The suspect's arrest prevented him from carrying out further offenses, the police added, including physically harming prominent atheist figures.
Police investigators raided the suspect's home Tuesday morning, searched it and arrested him. His mother's home was also searched. The suspect will be brought before a judge Wednesday afternoon.