Rabbis back far-right Jewish activists

Several senior settler rabbis have come out in support of far-right activists who have been either detained without charges by police or given orders to stay away from the West Bank, in the wake of a deadly firebombing attack widely attributed to extremist Jews.

“In recent days, administrative orders of detention, limitations and expulsion, without trial, were issued for many Jewish youths who are active for the nation of Israel and the Land of Israel,” the rabbis write in a letter, according to the Orthodox news site Kippa.

The rabbis, among whom are such figures as Rabbi Dov Lior and Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh, say that the sanctions against Jewish activists are a “mark of disgrace” for those who issued them, “who fail to distinguish between friend and foe, who are cruel to the compassionate and show compassion to the cruel.”