A 22-year-old Jewish extremist has been found guilty of carrying out the arson attack on Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fish at Tabgha on the Sea of Galilee.
The Times of Israel reported that a second, 21-year-old suspect was found not guilty in the June 2015 attack on the 4<sup>th century church, which marks the spot held to be where Jesus performed the miracle of feeding the five thousand.
A sentence for the convicted arsonist, Yinon Reuveni, is expected at a later date.
The arson attack reportedly caused damages of around $1.5 million, and the renovation work on the church took eight months to complete.
Israel contributed about $394,000 towards the reconstruction.
Reuveni, currently a resident of the southern town of Ofakim, had been banished from the West Bank on several occasions.
He is a suspect in a series of hate crimes, including the February 2015 arson attack at the Dormition Abbey, held to be the resting place of Mary, mother of Jesus, just outside the Old City of Jerusalem on Mount Zion.
The second suspect, Yehuda Asraf, had been living on an illegal outpost and is active in extremist Jewish circles, according to reports.
Two rooms in the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes in Tabgha were vandalised and badly damaged in the fire two years ago.
The arson attack completely destroyed a building in the compound, though the church itself was not damaged.
Hebrew graffiti was found on another building within the complex, reading: 'Idols will be cast out or destroyed.'
