Police investigate suspected arson of Israeli flag on Zionsville Main Street

By Jacqueline White, Gregg Montgomery & Justin Razavi
WISH-TV | wishtv.com

The Zionsville Police Department is investigating a fire on Historic Main Street that caused more than $150,000 in damage and is believed to have been set deliberately.

The Zionsville Fire Department said crews responded at 1:41 a.m. Friday to the blaze at 195 S. Main St., the former Kogan Antiques and Lighting.

Firefighters brought the fire under control within 15 minutes. No injuries were reported.

At a press conference later Friday morning, Zionsville Mayor John Stehr said the fire is believed to be arson.

Stehr said surveillance footage and the burn pattern points to an Israeli flag that had been hanging outside the building for approximately three years.

“It looks to be that that was sort of the impetus to this – that somebody may have lit the Israeli flag on fire, and that led to a burn pattern that we see here on the side of the building,” Stehr said.

The mayor did not hold back in expressing his reaction to the incident.

“It breaks my heart. This isn’t the people that I know in Zionsville. This doesn’t define Zionsville,” Stehr said. “I’ve used the word appalling, abhorrent. I can’t think of enough adjectives to tell you just how I feel about this. It’s obviously wrong.”

Community members in Zionsville say hate is not welcome in their town.

“There’s no place for hate, diversity is beautiful,” said Bob Goodman, who co-owns Robert Goodman Jewelers, right down the street from the location of the arson attack, with his wife, Rose-Marie.

Their store is lined with messages of tolerance including “Hate has no home here” and “Diversity is beautiful.”

“I think we’re all shocked and sad at the same time,” Rose-Marie Goodman said. “Hate is not something we can accept anywhere.”

Bob said the arsonist might have been trying to send a political message about the current government in Israel, it comes off as a much wider attack on Jewish people in general.

“It’s a statement against a religion, the Jewish religion, when they do that, in my opinion,” he said. “You can protest the government … We do not support the government and their actions in the Middle East, hard stop … But this is a statement against a religion.”

State Rep. Becky Cash, a Republican whose district includes Zionsville, said she was “horrified” when she heard about the attack.

“It’s been years since I’ve heard of an antisemitic attack in Zionsville,” Cash said. “Arson and crimes are not free speech, and my hope would be that nobody would ever say anything hateful toward anybody at all … I am confident our law enforcement will do everything they can to find out whoever did this and prosecute them.”

Law enforcement have not yet announced any suspects in the case.

The FBI said it offered to assist with the investigation, but the Zionsville Police Department is the lead agency. Anyone with information is urged to contact Detective Nick Ruby at (317) 941-9072.

The Indianapolis Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) and partners in the Greater Indianapolis Jewish Community issued a statement condemning the act.

This morning the Indianapolis Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) and partners in the Greater Indianapolis Jewish Community were made aware by Town of Zionsville leadership that a structure fire occurred overnight at a Zionsville Village building that was known to publicly display an Israeli flag alongside an American flag.

Town officials have confirmed that the fire was caused by arson, and the FBI has joined the investigation. While the motive remains under investigation, in our current environment, we are deeply concerned that the displayed flags may have been targeted. We condemn this despicable act of apparent intimidation in the strongest possible terms, and we call on civic, faith, and community leaders across Central Indiana to do the same. Arson, violence, and intimidation can never be accepted and have no place in our community.

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This story was originally published by WISH-TV at wishtv.com/news/crime-watch-8/police-investigate-suspected-arson-of-israeli-flag-on-zionsville-main-street.