NAZARETH, Israel, March 4 (UPI) -- The daughter of a Jewish man who set off fireworks inside a Christian shrine in Israel says her father was moved by "economic distress."
Haim Eliyahu Habibi, accompanied by his wife and daughter, entered the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth on Friday with the firecrackers concealed in a baby stroller. The church on the site of the place where an angel told the Virgin Mary she had been chosen to bear the son of God was full of worshippers for Lenten prayers.
Police say that Habibi has a history of mental illness, Ha'aretz reported, and of threatening Christian churches, including the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. He also once visited Yasser Arafat at his headquarters in Ramallah to complain that Israeli authorities had taken his daughter away.
At least 26 people, including 13 police officers, were hurt in riots that followed the incident. An angry crowd also tried to stop Habibi from being taken away in an ambulance.
