A carwash in Petah Tikva was set on fire on Monday, with the police suspecting that it was an arson attack provoked by the fact that the company employs Arabs.

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Price tag? A carwash in Petah Tikva was set on fire with anti-Arab graffiti sprayed on the wall (Photo: Fire Department and Hatzalah Petah Tikva)

The words "Jews don't employ Arabs" were found spray-painted on one of the walls of the carwash, referring to the firm's Jewish owner employing Arab staff.

Shortly before 10.30pm on Monday, the fire station in Petah Tikva received a report of a fire near a gas station on Jabotinsky Street. Teams of firefighters arrived at the scene and saw that the fire had broken out at the carwash.

'Jews don't employ Arabs' spray-painted on a wall of a carwash that was set on fire (Photo: Raanan Ben Zur)

The firefighters put out the blaze and managed to stop it spreading to other buildings nearby. The fire caused damage to the site and to the large brushes used to wash cars.

An investigation was opened following the fire. The suspicion of an arson attack was raised this morning as a result of the investigators' initial findings which showed that the graffiti had been spray-painted inside the car cleaning area prior to the fire.