A smell of petrol lingered in the air and the synagogue’s metal gate had been completely ripped from its hinges. Inside, a small room filled with colourful books for children had been blackened by smoke. Outside, the skeletons of palm trees stood charred, save for a few bits of green at the top. “Those animals destroyed and burnt,” said Eytan Schnur of his Arab neighbours, who, he said, had torched the Jewish house of worship on Thursday night..