It turns out that the owner of the main store in the fire is a Gerrer chassid resident of Arad. Last night a number of Haredi politicians put out angry notices condemning the attack and blaming it on the hatred caused by the anti-haredi bent in the media and with the Corona bias against the Haredim portraying the Haredi community as responsible for spreading plague, etc.

I personally do not know too many details about the fire. I haven't seen much posted online about it and have not yet seen a determined cause. Meaning, i don't know if it was really an attack, an accident, arson, an honest tragic mistake, weather related, or something else.

 

Interestingly, the City of Arad just put out the following statement. 

I find that to be slightly humorous. While I haven't heard anything new over this past year since Corona began, for the past several years Arad has bene a place of almost non-stop fighting between the community of Gerrer chassidim and the secular residents, and also between the community of Gerrer chassidim and the Chabad community. I am not sure it is so accurate to describe Arad as a peaceful city, though the news always does exaggerate the strife somewhat, so even if there is regular fighting it might not be exactly as bad as it sounds.