2 more right-wing activists handed restraining orders
Youths are the latest to receive administrative warrants in efforts to curb alleged extremist activities in West Bank
Israeli security services issued administrative warrants to two right-wing West Bank activists banning them from certain activities, Israel Radio reported Tuesday, the latest action in recent efforts to curtail extremist Jewish activity in the region.
The first warrant was handed to a 16-year-old from the Binyamin region, north of Jerusalem, who was prohibited from leaving his home at night or meeting with 18 other suspected activists.
The second went to a young man from the West Bank outpost of Givat Habaladim whose age was not given. He too was placed under house arrest at night.
At least 10 other West Bank youths suspected of extremist activities were issued similar warrants in recent weeks. Prohibitions included bans on entering Jerusalem or the West Bank for a period of several months, nighttime house arrests, and bans on contacting other suspects.
The wave of restraining orders came as authorities attempted to crack down on Jewish extremists in the wake of the July killing of Sa’ad Dawabsha and his 18-month-old son, Ali, in a firebombing attack on their home in the Palestinian village of Duma in the West Bank.
The attack, coupled with a fatal stabbing spree by an extremist Jew at Jerusalem’s gay pride parade a day earlier, sparked an international and domestic outcry over Israel’s failure to come to grips with violence by Jewish terrorists and extremists.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon approved the use of detention without charges — known as administrative detention — and other means in an effort to track down the killers of the Dawabshas.
Meir Ettinger, the 23-year-old grandson of assassinated extremist rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the outlawed anti-Arab Kach organization, was the first Israeli Jew arrested in connection with alleged extremist activity. Ya’alon approved the order authorizing for Ettinger to be held in administrative detention – i.e., held without being charged.
Ya’alon said the use of administrative detention for a number of Jewish terror suspects has proved effective in preventing additional violence against Arabs by hardline Jews.
Tamar Pileggi contributed to this report.