St. George’s Church Couldn’t Burn, But the Story Spread Like Wildfire

When images of a supposed arson attack on a church in the West Bank village of Taybeh surfaced in early July 2025, outrage spread swiftly across global media platforms. Israeli settlers were immediately implicated — without verification — and the story was quickly absorbed into broader narratives of settler violence and religious desecration.

But there was a problem: key material facts—about the fire, the church, and the physical evidence—didn’t support the claims. As I began to look into the story, I noticed that these facts were either overlooked or ignored, even as the narrative gained international traction. I wrote this post to examine what actually happened on the ground—and to explore what the coverage reveals about how narratives around Israel are shaped, circulated, and rarely corrected.

In my view, two key points emerge. First, the purported arsonists likely never intended to burn down the Church of St. George but instead staged a fire to generate symbolic outrage. Second, the media’s coverage, driven by political bias or journalistic negligence, amplified a misleading narrative with little regard for the physical facts.

What Actually Happened
On July 8, 2025, an alleged arson attack targeted the ruins of the Byzantine Church of St. George in the West Bank village of Taybeh. Media reports quickly accused Israeli settlers of attempting to set fire to the site—allegations widely accepted without verification, and in some cases, embraced eagerly. The story rapidly gained traction, fueling outrage and serving as a powerful symbol for those seeking to condemn settlers and, by extension, Israel. As the controversy grew, US Ambassador Mike Huckabee visited Taybeh on July 19, telling those gathered that he had come to “listen and learn.”

The Material Reality: Limestone Doesn’t Burn
The alleged arson resonated strongly with Western audiences, likely because they assumed the church was made of wood. But here’s the problem I kept coming back to the Church of St. George is not a wooden structure—it’s made of limestone. And limestone doesn’t burn. To calcine, or chemically break down, limestone, fire must reach temperatures of 800–900°C (Kingery et al. 1988: 219, 221, 238). The Church of St. George is not an intact building but an open archaeological site measuring about 1,032 square meters (11,108 square feet), based on Google Earth measurements. To “burn” this site, the alleged arsonists would have needed an accelerant—and even then, the limestone itself would not have ignited. Experimental archaeology reinforces this point. Calcining 500 kilograms of limestone blocks required roughly 1,000 kilograms of fuel—a literal ton—of wood and dung (Goren and Goring-Morris 2008). There is no evidence whatsoever that the alleged arsonists brought anything close to that quantity of fuel—or any accelerant at all.

The Fire’s Location: Outside the Site
Another important detail is that the fire didn’t occur within the archaeological site itself, but just outside it. An aerial photograph published by the Press Service of Israel (TPS-IL) shows the blaze narrowly confined to a strip of land east of the ruins. This area is bounded by a low stone wall on one side and an orchard on the other. Although the imagery isn’t perfect, the orchard trees appear unaffected. To the south, the fire stopped at the stone perimeter wall enclosing a Christian cemetery. The intensity of the burn varies—some patches of ground are only lightly scorched, while others show more severe charring.

Two Possible Interpretations
From this evidence, I see two possible interpretations. First, the would-be arsonists were simply ignorant—unaware that limestone doesn’t burn. This is underscored by the absence of accelerants at the site, which would have been necessary to damage or destroy the limestone ruins. Alternatively, the arsonists may never have intended to burn the church at all. Instead, they may have staged the appearance of an arson attack, knowing imagery alone could spark global outrage against Israel. And it worked. While U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee did not assign blame to any particular group, he did state that “it was [a] crime & deserves consequences.”

Misreporting and Narrative Framing
The Church of St. George was never in any real danger. Yet the alleged arson was reported globally and quickly folded into political narratives used to vilify settlers—and, by extension, Israel. In some cases, this reflects a deeper political agenda. In others, it may have been the result of factual error or rushed reporting. A striking example comes from NBC’s Matt Bradley, who included a photograph by AP’s Nasser Nasser in his reporting. The image was captioned: “Burn marks in the cemetery near the Church of St. George Al Khidr in Taybeh on Monday.” That claim, however, is inaccurate. As the image itself shows, the burn marks are outside the cemetery, not within it. The exterior face of the cemetery’s perimeter wall is clearly visible in the background. The scorched ground and collapsed metal structure lie in front of it, well outside the cemetery boundary. The line of stones in the foreground is part of a low wall east of the church, unrelated to the burial ground. This wall is visible in the aerial photograph published by the Press Service of Israel.

The Broader Implications

Coverage of the purported arson attack shows that some in the media are biased against Israel and quick to amplify narratives that support that view. Clearly, some journalists chose outrage over accuracy—embracing a storyline that collapses under basic scrutiny. Others may simply be unaware that limestone doesn’t burn. To quote Bassam Tawil, “all those who rushed to blame Jews for ‘burning down’ a church should apologize for endorsing this new blood libel.”

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A referenced version of this blog post is available at https://ecu.academia.edu/BenjaminSaidel/Times-of-Israel-blog-with-references.