you wrote:
“The Israelis are afraid to retain and jail those arrested for fear of mass reprisals and more fires set.”
I doubt that. Israel afraid to let loose arsonists because retaining them might mean more arsonists? That doesn’t make any sense.
Actually, it makes a lot sense. In the past months, and in the past in general, local arabs have set a number of fires. This includes groups of them setting fire to, and destroying sacred sites such as Joseph’s tomb. They have attempted this repeatedly. Thankfully, they were caught in time, and the Israelis were able to put them out before they reached these proportions.
What the Israelis are afraid of is more such terrorism while they are stretched far beyond their limits, and in need of international help in putting this massive fire out.
It is a matter of a realization that the Israelis are not able to fend off massive fires. This is a serious vulnerability, as this situation clearly shows. Israel is afraid that any arrests will cause a situation where things will become a lot worse.