8 aug 2015
The heads of Catholic churches, Friday, filed a complaint against the chief of extremist Jewish group, Lehava, for advocating the burning of churches.
According to a press release issued by the Assembly of the Catholic Ordinaries on Friday, Father Pietro Felet, Secretary General of the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries in the Holy Land, filed an official complaint to the Israeli police, Friday morning, against the leader of radical Israeli organization Lehava, Bentsi Gopstein, demanding he be brought to justice for advocating the torching of churches.
The complaint, filed on behalf of over than twenty patriarchs and bishops, expressed “concern over what was described to be growing security challenges to churches, people and buildings alike, in areas under Israel's sovereignty or control.”
The complaint referred to several attacks that targeted churches and Christian holy sites by radical parties and hinted that in vast majority of these criminal incidents criminals were not brought to justice.
The complaint was referring to remarks made by Gopstein during a panel debating Jewish religious law, last Tuesday night in Jerusalem.
Responding to a question on whether he “is in favor of burning churches in the Land of Israel,” Gopstein answered: “Did the Rambam rule to destroy [idol worship] or not? Idol worship must be destroyed. It’s simply yes – what’s the question?”
He was reported in another version as answering, apparently alluding to the rulings of the 12th century Jewish ‘sage’ Mainonides “The law is straightforward; Maimonides’ interpretation is that one must burn idolatry. There’s not a single rabbi that would deliberate that fact. I expect the government of Israel to carry that out.”
When the panel moderator warned him that the panel was filmed and if the recording get to police he would be arrested, Gopstein said: “That’s the last thing that bothers me. If that’s the truth then I’m prepared to sit 50 years in prison for it.”
The complaint was made one day after the Palestinian Foreign Ministry issued a press statement vehemently denouncing the Israeli government’s “tolerance toward Gobshtai and other extremists who advocate murdering and terrorizing Palestinians and setting fire to their property.”
The Foreign Ministry held the Israeli government fully responsible for the consequences of such “racist and provocative” calls that have resulted in murdering Palestinians in the most atrocious fashion, particularly the burning to death of 18-month-old Palestinian toddler Ali Dawabsha and critically injury of his family members in an arson attack on a house in the Nablus village of Douma.
The Ministry, given a rise in the cycle of violence and counter-violence, slammed Israeli government’s policies and disregard of rising bloody extremism as responsible for the proliferation of the culture of hatred, violence and racism.
In December 2014, several Lehava members, including Gopstein himself, who lives in a settlement inside the West Bank city of Hebron, were detained on charges of setting fire to a first-grade classroom at Jerusalem's Hand-in-Hand school on November 29. Daubed on the walls in Hebrew were slogans reading 'Death to Arabs' and 'There's no coexistence with cancer.'
Lehava activists follow the teachings of the late Meir Kahane, a virulently anti-Arab rabbi whose Kach party and another offshoot were banned in 1994 after one of its members gunned down 29 Muslims in a flashpoint mosque in the West Bank city of Hebron.
According to a press release issued by the Assembly of the Catholic Ordinaries on Friday, Father Pietro Felet, Secretary General of the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries in the Holy Land, filed an official complaint to the Israeli police, Friday morning, against the leader of radical Israeli organization Lehava, Bentsi Gopstein, demanding he be brought to justice for advocating the torching of churches.
The complaint, filed on behalf of over than twenty patriarchs and bishops, expressed “concern over what was described to be growing security challenges to churches, people and buildings alike, in areas under Israel's sovereignty or control.”
The complaint referred to several attacks that targeted churches and Christian holy sites by radical parties and hinted that in vast majority of these criminal incidents criminals were not brought to justice.
The complaint was referring to remarks made by Gopstein during a panel debating Jewish religious law, last Tuesday night in Jerusalem.
Responding to a question on whether he “is in favor of burning churches in the Land of Israel,” Gopstein answered: “Did the Rambam rule to destroy [idol worship] or not? Idol worship must be destroyed. It’s simply yes – what’s the question?”
He was reported in another version as answering, apparently alluding to the rulings of the 12th century Jewish ‘sage’ Mainonides “The law is straightforward; Maimonides’ interpretation is that one must burn idolatry. There’s not a single rabbi that would deliberate that fact. I expect the government of Israel to carry that out.”
When the panel moderator warned him that the panel was filmed and if the recording get to police he would be arrested, Gopstein said: “That’s the last thing that bothers me. If that’s the truth then I’m prepared to sit 50 years in prison for it.”
The complaint was made one day after the Palestinian Foreign Ministry issued a press statement vehemently denouncing the Israeli government’s “tolerance toward Gobshtai and other extremists who advocate murdering and terrorizing Palestinians and setting fire to their property.”
The Foreign Ministry held the Israeli government fully responsible for the consequences of such “racist and provocative” calls that have resulted in murdering Palestinians in the most atrocious fashion, particularly the burning to death of 18-month-old Palestinian toddler Ali Dawabsha and critically injury of his family members in an arson attack on a house in the Nablus village of Douma.
The Ministry, given a rise in the cycle of violence and counter-violence, slammed Israeli government’s policies and disregard of rising bloody extremism as responsible for the proliferation of the culture of hatred, violence and racism.
In December 2014, several Lehava members, including Gopstein himself, who lives in a settlement inside the West Bank city of Hebron, were detained on charges of setting fire to a first-grade classroom at Jerusalem's Hand-in-Hand school on November 29. Daubed on the walls in Hebrew were slogans reading 'Death to Arabs' and 'There's no coexistence with cancer.'
Lehava activists follow the teachings of the late Meir Kahane, a virulently anti-Arab rabbi whose Kach party and another offshoot were banned in 1994 after one of its members gunned down 29 Muslims in a flashpoint mosque in the West Bank city of Hebron.
7 aug 2015
Meir Ettinger was arrested on Monday in connection with Jewish extremist activities
His long beard, dangling side-locks and wide smile give him the look of a hippie from another era, but Meir Ettinger has become the symbol of a crackdown on Jewish extremism.
The young man, whose grandfather headed a racist movement, was arrested on Monday, the first alleged extremist to be taken into custody in connection with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge of "zero tolerance."
The push to crack down on Jewish extremism follows the July 31 firebombing of a Palestinian home in the occupied West Bank that killed an 18-month-old child and critically wounded his parents and four-year-old brother.
It came only hours after a stabbing attack at a Gay Pride parade in Jerusalem that wounded five people and killed a 16-year-old girl.
The incidents were unrelated, with the suspect in the Gay Pride stabbings an ultra-Orthodox Jew carrying out a "lone wolf"-type attack. The firebombing however follows a pattern of such actions by suspected Jewish extremists against Palestinians, both Christian and Muslim, and even the Israeli military.
Ettinger, 23, from Jerusalem, is accused of being a key figure in an amorphous band of youths who have engaged in such violence. After the torching of part of a shrine in northern Israel in June where Christians believe Jesus performed the miracle of loaves and fishes, the Shin Bet internal security agency labelled him the head of an "ideological infrastructure" responsible for the arson.
According to the Shin Bet, the same "infrastructure" vandalized a monastery in 2014 and unsuccessfully sought to disrupt Pope Benedict's visit the same year. Ettinger's family is no stranger to controversy.
His grandfather Meir Kahane founded Kach, a racist movement that wanted to chase Palestinians from Israel and which was banned in 1988. Kahane was assassinated in New York in 1990. His father is a rabbi at two religious schools in Jerusalem. His parents disapproved of his radical stance, and when he was 17, Ettinger left to live in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Hilltop Youths
A number of illegal Jewish outposts, usually made up of homemade structures and caravans, have sprung up in the mountains of the occupied West Bank on land Palestinians view as part of a future state of their own. All Israeli settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal under international law.
Israel grants approvals for settlements, but unauthorized outposts are also illegal under its laws. Ettinger wandered from one outpost to another, allegedly becoming part of what is known as the "Hilltop Youth," a loose band of militants who left their schools and families to live in what they see as "Judea and Samaria" -- the name given to the West Bank in reference to the ancient Biblical kingdoms.
They advocate for the return of the ancient kingdoms where Jews can live under the laws of the Torah. In his blog on July 30, Ettinger wrote of God's honor being "desecrated by idolatry filling the Holy Land".
He lashed out at "the state of Israel's great sin of allowing idolatry -- churches and monasteries abounding in the Land of Israel with the sound of their ringing bells mixing with the pleasant sound of the Torah and prayer that, thank God, is plentiful in the Holy Land."
Ettinger said "there are many, many Jews, much more than what people think ... who are committed not to the broken laws of the state but much more eternal laws, true and from a pure source." His lawyer said Ettinger has never committed violence and called his arrest "window dressing."
For some, Ettinger was inspired by Yitzchak Ginsburgh, a rabbi from a messianic branch of Hasidic Judaism that denies Arabs the right to live in the Holy Land. Ettinger spoke of him in January 2014 with a group of settlers who sought to destroy an olive grove in the Palestinian village of Qusra in the West Bank.
They were beaten by residents before being turned over to Israeli soldiers. He is also reported to have broken into Joseph's tomb in Nablus despite restrictions imposed on Jews and to have collected information on authorities' plans to evacuate illegal outposts.
His alleged activities earned him six months in prison and a ban on travel to the West Bank and Jerusalem for one year. He was living in Safed in northern Israel for several months when he was arrested this week.
His long beard, dangling side-locks and wide smile give him the look of a hippie from another era, but Meir Ettinger has become the symbol of a crackdown on Jewish extremism.
The young man, whose grandfather headed a racist movement, was arrested on Monday, the first alleged extremist to be taken into custody in connection with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge of "zero tolerance."
The push to crack down on Jewish extremism follows the July 31 firebombing of a Palestinian home in the occupied West Bank that killed an 18-month-old child and critically wounded his parents and four-year-old brother.
It came only hours after a stabbing attack at a Gay Pride parade in Jerusalem that wounded five people and killed a 16-year-old girl.
The incidents were unrelated, with the suspect in the Gay Pride stabbings an ultra-Orthodox Jew carrying out a "lone wolf"-type attack. The firebombing however follows a pattern of such actions by suspected Jewish extremists against Palestinians, both Christian and Muslim, and even the Israeli military.
Ettinger, 23, from Jerusalem, is accused of being a key figure in an amorphous band of youths who have engaged in such violence. After the torching of part of a shrine in northern Israel in June where Christians believe Jesus performed the miracle of loaves and fishes, the Shin Bet internal security agency labelled him the head of an "ideological infrastructure" responsible for the arson.
According to the Shin Bet, the same "infrastructure" vandalized a monastery in 2014 and unsuccessfully sought to disrupt Pope Benedict's visit the same year. Ettinger's family is no stranger to controversy.
His grandfather Meir Kahane founded Kach, a racist movement that wanted to chase Palestinians from Israel and which was banned in 1988. Kahane was assassinated in New York in 1990. His father is a rabbi at two religious schools in Jerusalem. His parents disapproved of his radical stance, and when he was 17, Ettinger left to live in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Hilltop Youths
A number of illegal Jewish outposts, usually made up of homemade structures and caravans, have sprung up in the mountains of the occupied West Bank on land Palestinians view as part of a future state of their own. All Israeli settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal under international law.
Israel grants approvals for settlements, but unauthorized outposts are also illegal under its laws. Ettinger wandered from one outpost to another, allegedly becoming part of what is known as the "Hilltop Youth," a loose band of militants who left their schools and families to live in what they see as "Judea and Samaria" -- the name given to the West Bank in reference to the ancient Biblical kingdoms.
They advocate for the return of the ancient kingdoms where Jews can live under the laws of the Torah. In his blog on July 30, Ettinger wrote of God's honor being "desecrated by idolatry filling the Holy Land".
He lashed out at "the state of Israel's great sin of allowing idolatry -- churches and monasteries abounding in the Land of Israel with the sound of their ringing bells mixing with the pleasant sound of the Torah and prayer that, thank God, is plentiful in the Holy Land."
Ettinger said "there are many, many Jews, much more than what people think ... who are committed not to the broken laws of the state but much more eternal laws, true and from a pure source." His lawyer said Ettinger has never committed violence and called his arrest "window dressing."
For some, Ettinger was inspired by Yitzchak Ginsburgh, a rabbi from a messianic branch of Hasidic Judaism that denies Arabs the right to live in the Holy Land. Ettinger spoke of him in January 2014 with a group of settlers who sought to destroy an olive grove in the Palestinian village of Qusra in the West Bank.
They were beaten by residents before being turned over to Israeli soldiers. He is also reported to have broken into Joseph's tomb in Nablus despite restrictions imposed on Jews and to have collected information on authorities' plans to evacuate illegal outposts.
His alleged activities earned him six months in prison and a ban on travel to the West Bank and Jerusalem for one year. He was living in Safed in northern Israel for several months when he was arrested this week.
6 aug 2015
Israeli settler Benzi Gopstein, the leader of the extreme right-wing movement Lehava, in court in Jerusalem in 2014
The leader of a Jewish extremist group in Israel allegedly called for arson attacks on churches in front of Israeli students, Israeli media reported on Thursday.
Benzi Gopstein, leader of anti-Arab group Lehava, allegedly called for the burning of churches at a panel held this week for Jewish yeshiva students, using ancient Halachic, or Jewish law, to condemn what he called Christian "idol worship."
When a journalist at the panel informed Gopstein that he was on camera and could be arrested for his comments, Gopstein said he is prepared to spend 50 years in jail for his remarks, according to a video of the panel released by the Haredi website Kikar Shabbat.
After the release of the video, Gopstein said he "stressed several times" that he was "not calling to take operative steps," instead he said that it is "the responsibility of the government, not of individuals" to abolish the Christian practice of idol worship.
The Israeli government has taken steps to crack down on Jewish extremism over the past week, after suspected Jewish extremists torched two West Bank homes, burning an 18-month-old infant alive and critically injuring the baby's mother, father and brother.
Three right-wing extremists were arrested on Tuesday in connection to the arson under an administrative detention order after Israel's security cabinet approved the use of the measure on Jewish Israelis. The arrests marked the first time a Jewish Israeli has ever been held under the policy of administrative detention.
There has been a long line of attacks on Christian and Muslim holy places in both Israel and the occupied West Bank in which the perpetrators were believed to be Jewish extremists.
Despite announcements by the Israeli government in May 2014 to crack down on violent attacks carried out by Israelis against Palestinians, prosecution rates of Jewish extremists remain remarkably low.
The leader of a Jewish extremist group in Israel allegedly called for arson attacks on churches in front of Israeli students, Israeli media reported on Thursday.
Benzi Gopstein, leader of anti-Arab group Lehava, allegedly called for the burning of churches at a panel held this week for Jewish yeshiva students, using ancient Halachic, or Jewish law, to condemn what he called Christian "idol worship."
When a journalist at the panel informed Gopstein that he was on camera and could be arrested for his comments, Gopstein said he is prepared to spend 50 years in jail for his remarks, according to a video of the panel released by the Haredi website Kikar Shabbat.
After the release of the video, Gopstein said he "stressed several times" that he was "not calling to take operative steps," instead he said that it is "the responsibility of the government, not of individuals" to abolish the Christian practice of idol worship.
The Israeli government has taken steps to crack down on Jewish extremism over the past week, after suspected Jewish extremists torched two West Bank homes, burning an 18-month-old infant alive and critically injuring the baby's mother, father and brother.
Three right-wing extremists were arrested on Tuesday in connection to the arson under an administrative detention order after Israel's security cabinet approved the use of the measure on Jewish Israelis. The arrests marked the first time a Jewish Israeli has ever been held under the policy of administrative detention.
There has been a long line of attacks on Christian and Muslim holy places in both Israel and the occupied West Bank in which the perpetrators were believed to be Jewish extremists.
Despite announcements by the Israeli government in May 2014 to crack down on violent attacks carried out by Israelis against Palestinians, prosecution rates of Jewish extremists remain remarkably low.
5 aug 2015
Shlissel continues rejecting services of public defender; police presents documents and past reports on suspect's mental state, showing he was fit to stand trial.
Yishai Shlissel, who is suspected of murdering 16-year-old Shira Banki at this year's Pride Parade in Jerusalem, will be sent to a psychiatric evaluation, the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court ordered on Wednesday.
The evaluation will determine whether Shlissel, who is also suspected of five attempted murders, is fit to stand trial and whether he was responsible for his actions while stabbing the marchers at the pride parade. Shlissel, who was recently released after spending 10 years in prison for stabbing three people in the 2005 Jerusalem Pride Parade, showed no emotion as he sat at court, refusing to answer journalists' questions.
A representative from the Public Attorney's Office said he spoke to Shlissel before the court hearing, but Shlissel maintains his refusal for representation from the state and refuses to cooperate. When Judge Anat Singer asked Shlissel how he wanted to be represented, he responded: "You have no authority to judge me because it's not according to the laws of Torah, and that is why I have no intention of playing a part in this illegal charade."
A police representative said Shlissel was sane throughout his sentence over the past decade. He also presented documents from the Prisons Service and past reports on Shlissel's mental state that determined he was fit to stand trial.
The psychiatric evaluation will take place within the next 48 hours and its results will be presented to the court until next Tuesday.
Yishai Shlissel, who is suspected of murdering 16-year-old Shira Banki at this year's Pride Parade in Jerusalem, will be sent to a psychiatric evaluation, the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court ordered on Wednesday.
The evaluation will determine whether Shlissel, who is also suspected of five attempted murders, is fit to stand trial and whether he was responsible for his actions while stabbing the marchers at the pride parade. Shlissel, who was recently released after spending 10 years in prison for stabbing three people in the 2005 Jerusalem Pride Parade, showed no emotion as he sat at court, refusing to answer journalists' questions.
A representative from the Public Attorney's Office said he spoke to Shlissel before the court hearing, but Shlissel maintains his refusal for representation from the state and refuses to cooperate. When Judge Anat Singer asked Shlissel how he wanted to be represented, he responded: "You have no authority to judge me because it's not according to the laws of Torah, and that is why I have no intention of playing a part in this illegal charade."
A police representative said Shlissel was sane throughout his sentence over the past decade. He also presented documents from the Prisons Service and past reports on Shlissel's mental state that determined he was fit to stand trial.
The psychiatric evaluation will take place within the next 48 hours and its results will be presented to the court until next Tuesday.
Israeli occupation police on Wednesday morning stated they were not able to identify the settler who torched home of 18-month-old Ali Saad Dawabsheh, who was burned to death in the attack.
Israeli police spokeswoman, Luba Samri, in a statement on Tuesday said that the police was still working on the case, but needs more leads.
In a post on its official Facebook page, the police wrote that it “asks for the help of the public in the investigation of the arson and murder in Duma Village.”
“Anyone who has in their possession information or any detail that could help in deciphering the murder is asked to contact the phone number: 050-8386626,” wrote the police.
The current lead to the case is the Hebrew graffiti which says “the Messiah King will live,” a phrase more commonly associated with Chabad than with “hilltop youth” Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria. Likewise the word “revenge” that was also found was written in a script some say appears to indicate an Arab writer.
The statement raised questions and criticism, especially that IOF confiscated security cameras from Duma on Monday night.
According to i24 news, the attack is believed to have been carried out by at least two right-wing Jewish extremists.
Israeli Channel 10 said that security sources have pointed the finger towards an illegal outpost in the eastern Shilo area in the West bank which, according to the sources, have “a history” of hostility with the Palestinian villages in the area.
While the police recently arrested far-right activist Meir Ettinger, he has not been named as a suspect in the attack, said 124.
Ettinger, whose grandfather Meir Kahane founded the racist anti-Arab movement Kach, was arrested on Monday “because of his activities in a Jewish extremist organization,” a spokesman for the Shin Bet internal security service told AFP.
The court prolonged the incarceration of Meir Ettinger until at least Sunday, judicial sources said.
Police said Ettinger, who is aged around 20, was suspected of “nationalist crimes” but did not accuse him of direct involvement in last week’s firebombing of a Palestinian home in the occupied West Bank, in which a toddler was burned to death.
Haaretz reported Ettinger was linked to last month’s arson attack on the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. The church was damaged and two people injured.
Israeli police spokeswoman, Luba Samri, in a statement on Tuesday said that the police was still working on the case, but needs more leads.
In a post on its official Facebook page, the police wrote that it “asks for the help of the public in the investigation of the arson and murder in Duma Village.”
“Anyone who has in their possession information or any detail that could help in deciphering the murder is asked to contact the phone number: 050-8386626,” wrote the police.
The current lead to the case is the Hebrew graffiti which says “the Messiah King will live,” a phrase more commonly associated with Chabad than with “hilltop youth” Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria. Likewise the word “revenge” that was also found was written in a script some say appears to indicate an Arab writer.
The statement raised questions and criticism, especially that IOF confiscated security cameras from Duma on Monday night.
According to i24 news, the attack is believed to have been carried out by at least two right-wing Jewish extremists.
Israeli Channel 10 said that security sources have pointed the finger towards an illegal outpost in the eastern Shilo area in the West bank which, according to the sources, have “a history” of hostility with the Palestinian villages in the area.
While the police recently arrested far-right activist Meir Ettinger, he has not been named as a suspect in the attack, said 124.
Ettinger, whose grandfather Meir Kahane founded the racist anti-Arab movement Kach, was arrested on Monday “because of his activities in a Jewish extremist organization,” a spokesman for the Shin Bet internal security service told AFP.
The court prolonged the incarceration of Meir Ettinger until at least Sunday, judicial sources said.
Police said Ettinger, who is aged around 20, was suspected of “nationalist crimes” but did not accuse him of direct involvement in last week’s firebombing of a Palestinian home in the occupied West Bank, in which a toddler was burned to death.
Haaretz reported Ettinger was linked to last month’s arson attack on the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. The church was damaged and two people injured.
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Eighteen-year-old Mordechai Meir, suspected of organizing arson attack on Galilee church, to be jailed for as long as six months without trial.
Defence Minister Moshe Ya'alon signed an order Tuesday night to allow the administrative detention of right-wing activist Mordechai Meir (18) to last as long as six months without trial. Meir, a resident of Ma'ale Adumim, just east of Jerusalem, was arrested Tuesday evening on suspicion of organizing an arson attack on the Church of Loaves and Fishes on the Sea of Galilee several weeks ago. The suspect had been under house arrest and forbidden from going to |
certain places after spending some time in jail. A second suspect, Avitar Salonim, was also arrested Tuesday for helping organize the activities of Jewish extremists and forbidden from going to the West Bank or Jerusalem.
An official statement from the Defense Ministry said that Meir had been involved in violent incidents and terror attacks as part of a "Jewish terrorist group."
Tuesday's decision was the first of its kind against a Jewish-Israeli suspect in years and came after the Security Cabinet decided earlier in the week to use the method of administrative detention against Jewish suspects of extremist attacks. Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein also offered his legal support for the decision before Ya'alon signed the order.
An official statement from the Defense Ministry said that Meir had been involved in violent incidents and terror attacks as part of a "Jewish terrorist group."
Tuesday's decision was the first of its kind against a Jewish-Israeli suspect in years and came after the Security Cabinet decided earlier in the week to use the method of administrative detention against Jewish suspects of extremist attacks. Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein also offered his legal support for the decision before Ya'alon signed the order.
4 aug 2015
A second suspected Jewish extremist was arrested Tuesday in Israel following the firebombing of a Palestinian home that burned a baby alive, the Shin Bet internal security force said.
Israel on Monday arrested Meir Ettinger, whose grandfather Meir Kahane founded the racist anti-Palestinian Kach group, and a court prolonged his detention until the weekend on suspicion of "nationalist crimes".
"A second individual, Eviatar Slonim, was arrested for belonging to an extremist organisation," a Shin Bet spokeswoman told AFP, without providing details on any charges against him.
Israeli television reported that the office of Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein had given permission for authorities to place three suspected Jewish extremists in "administrative detention".
The measure would need the green light from Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, it added.Media reports said Ettinger could face a year of such detention under the government's harder line against "Jewish terrorists". Israel normally applies the measure, which dates from British-mandated Palestine, against Palestinians, allowing renewable six-month periods of detention without trial.
Currently, 379 of the 5,686 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jail are on administrative detention, according to official figures.
Friday's attack in the occupied West Bank, which killed 18-month-old Ali Saad Dawabsha, sparked an international outcry over Israel's failure to get to grips with violence by hard-line Jewish settlers.
Israel on Monday arrested Meir Ettinger, whose grandfather Meir Kahane founded the racist anti-Palestinian Kach group, and a court prolonged his detention until the weekend on suspicion of "nationalist crimes".
"A second individual, Eviatar Slonim, was arrested for belonging to an extremist organisation," a Shin Bet spokeswoman told AFP, without providing details on any charges against him.
Israeli television reported that the office of Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein had given permission for authorities to place three suspected Jewish extremists in "administrative detention".
The measure would need the green light from Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, it added.Media reports said Ettinger could face a year of such detention under the government's harder line against "Jewish terrorists". Israel normally applies the measure, which dates from British-mandated Palestine, against Palestinians, allowing renewable six-month periods of detention without trial.
Currently, 379 of the 5,686 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jail are on administrative detention, according to official figures.
Friday's attack in the occupied West Bank, which killed 18-month-old Ali Saad Dawabsha, sparked an international outcry over Israel's failure to get to grips with violence by hard-line Jewish settlers.
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Far-right activist Meir Ettinger was arrested by the Shin Bet, which says he developed a plan called 'the revolt', designed to inflame tensions and cause anarchy in order to hasten the end of days.
Meir Ettinger, who was arrested on Monday by the Shin Bet, was accused by the security service of heading a cell planning to commit a series of violent acts against Palestinians as part of a plan he branded "the revolt". Ettinger, considered the Shin Bet's Jewish division's number one target, was arrested at his apartment in Safed. He is the grandson of far-right late US-born rabbi Meir Kahane, who advocated expelling Arabs from Israel and the Palestinian territories. |
According to his worldview, violence must be committed in order to light the flames of conflict and cause the Israeli government to collapse. Anarchy would follow, and then a new order could be created.
"The meaning of bringing down the state is toppling the structure of the state and its ability to rule, and to build a new institution," wrote Ettinger in a document outlining his plan.
"To this end, we must work outside of the rules of the institution we want to bring down.
"If the 'contractor' sees there is a regime and keeps him from carrying out the mission, and the mission must be carried out, he must think now how to topple the regime that's stopping him from building the temple, which is preventing us from attaining full and true salvation," read the document.
"The idea of the revolt is very simple," continued Ettinger. "Israel has many 'weak points', subjects people tiptoe around so as not to cause riots. What we will do is simply 'spark' all these powder kegs, all the questions and the contradictions between Judaism and democracy. Between the Jewish character and the secular character, without fearing the results. Disturbing the ability to rule the country. That's the main part of the revolt's 'vort' (word) to break the rules and the entire status quo."
The document went on: "When you do this, you have to pay attention to the difference between 'breaking' the state, which is an action that doesn't pay enough attention to what is left of the fragments, and 'dismantling', which is the same action, only gentler and particularly careful.
That is, ultimately the goal is disturbing the foundations of the state until the point where the Jews are forced to decide whether they want to take part in the revolution or in suppressing the revolt, because it will not be possible to ignore it or continue to sit and do nothing, because in practice the revolt will not permit the state's existence in the same way."
Ettinger was born in Jerusalem to Mordechai Ettinger, a rabbi at the Har Hamor and Ateret Kohanim yeshivas in Jerusalem, and Tova, the daughter of Rabbi Meir Kahane, the founder of the outlawed Kach movement. He got married in October 2014.
"I've lost the energy for it," Tova Ettinger told Ynet on Monday following her grandson's arrest.
Ettinger embarked on this path six years ago in the outpost of Ramat Magron, which was eventually evacuated, and with time became a well-known figure. He has previously encountered security forces in several incidents, such as when he entered Joseph's Tombin Nablus despite not being approved, and involvement in collecting information on security forces planning to evacuate West Bank outposts, which led to more than six months of detention for Ettinger.
At this point, he met friends from the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva in Yitzhar, and began to be drawn to Hasidic-messianic ideas about hastening salvation through deeds. The president of the yeshiva is Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh, a controversial figure who has been arrested for a series of publications about Arabs, including pamphlets stating that Arabs have no right to live in Israel.
According to the Shin Bet, Ettinger has continued to radicalize since then, and is at the head of a new organization, which was responsible for the arson at the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fish in June.
Ettinger denied in a blog post that he was the chief of a Jewish terror organization: "To tell you the truth, I don't know what they in the Shin Bet wanted me to organize, and they should definitely look for other people to cast for the roles they need in their show for the media, but this urge of the Shin Bet to create an atmosphere, to put up appearances as if there is some 'organization' it exposed, clearly illustrates to us what those in the Shin Bet understand and are so afraid of," he wrote.
Attorney Yuval Zemer, who represents Ettinger, said he felt the arrest was more a matter of public relations than a true investigation.
"The meaning of bringing down the state is toppling the structure of the state and its ability to rule, and to build a new institution," wrote Ettinger in a document outlining his plan.
"To this end, we must work outside of the rules of the institution we want to bring down.
"If the 'contractor' sees there is a regime and keeps him from carrying out the mission, and the mission must be carried out, he must think now how to topple the regime that's stopping him from building the temple, which is preventing us from attaining full and true salvation," read the document.
"The idea of the revolt is very simple," continued Ettinger. "Israel has many 'weak points', subjects people tiptoe around so as not to cause riots. What we will do is simply 'spark' all these powder kegs, all the questions and the contradictions between Judaism and democracy. Between the Jewish character and the secular character, without fearing the results. Disturbing the ability to rule the country. That's the main part of the revolt's 'vort' (word) to break the rules and the entire status quo."
The document went on: "When you do this, you have to pay attention to the difference between 'breaking' the state, which is an action that doesn't pay enough attention to what is left of the fragments, and 'dismantling', which is the same action, only gentler and particularly careful.
That is, ultimately the goal is disturbing the foundations of the state until the point where the Jews are forced to decide whether they want to take part in the revolution or in suppressing the revolt, because it will not be possible to ignore it or continue to sit and do nothing, because in practice the revolt will not permit the state's existence in the same way."
Ettinger was born in Jerusalem to Mordechai Ettinger, a rabbi at the Har Hamor and Ateret Kohanim yeshivas in Jerusalem, and Tova, the daughter of Rabbi Meir Kahane, the founder of the outlawed Kach movement. He got married in October 2014.
"I've lost the energy for it," Tova Ettinger told Ynet on Monday following her grandson's arrest.
Ettinger embarked on this path six years ago in the outpost of Ramat Magron, which was eventually evacuated, and with time became a well-known figure. He has previously encountered security forces in several incidents, such as when he entered Joseph's Tombin Nablus despite not being approved, and involvement in collecting information on security forces planning to evacuate West Bank outposts, which led to more than six months of detention for Ettinger.
At this point, he met friends from the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva in Yitzhar, and began to be drawn to Hasidic-messianic ideas about hastening salvation through deeds. The president of the yeshiva is Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh, a controversial figure who has been arrested for a series of publications about Arabs, including pamphlets stating that Arabs have no right to live in Israel.
According to the Shin Bet, Ettinger has continued to radicalize since then, and is at the head of a new organization, which was responsible for the arson at the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fish in June.
Ettinger denied in a blog post that he was the chief of a Jewish terror organization: "To tell you the truth, I don't know what they in the Shin Bet wanted me to organize, and they should definitely look for other people to cast for the roles they need in their show for the media, but this urge of the Shin Bet to create an atmosphere, to put up appearances as if there is some 'organization' it exposed, clearly illustrates to us what those in the Shin Bet understand and are so afraid of," he wrote.
Attorney Yuval Zemer, who represents Ettinger, said he felt the arrest was more a matter of public relations than a true investigation.
As Israeli investigators release their findings that a right-wing Jewish terrorist network is gaining power throughout Israel and illegal West Bank settlements, an arrest has been made in the arson attack Thursday night that burned a baby to death and severely wounded his mother, father and 4-year old brother.
The alleged arsonist, who smiled and joked as he was taken into custody, is 24-year old Meir Ettinger, the grandson of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, who was known for his racism and incitement against Arabs, as well as direct involvement in violent racist attacks.
His arrest came five days after the attack, and is the only one so far, despite eyewitness accounts that at least four men were seen running from the village after setting the house on fire with a firebomb and spraypainting it with racist graffiti.
As Meir Ettinger was taken into custody, police investigators told reporters from Ha’aretz newspaper that they suspect the involvement of a right-wing network that is based in Yitzhar settlement, in the northern West Bank, and has planned and carried out dozens of terror attacks against Palestinians.
The group is also suspected of carrying out the arson that burned the Church of the Loaves and Fishes, a holy site for Christians, late last year.
Shin Bet arrests Kahane's grandson, online incitement continues
Far-right activist Meir Ettinger suspected of involvement with extremist Jewish organization; police opens investigation into videos of Netanyahu, Rivlin wearing Nazi uniform.
Far-right activist Meir Ettinger was arrested on Monday on suspicion of involvement with an extremist Jewish organization, while police opened an investigation into videos posted on YouTube of President Rivlin and Prime Minister Netanyahu in Nazi uniform.
Ettinger, who was barred from entering the West Bank or Jerusalem for a year, was arrested by the Judea and Samaria Police and transferred to the Shin Bet for questioning. He is the grandson of far-right late US-born rabbi Meir Kahane, who advocated expelling Arabs from Israel and the Palestinian territories.
In a blog he runs, Ettinger wrote on Thursday, a day before the terror attack in Duma in which a Palestinian baby was murdered, that "the truth must be told - there is no terror organization, but there are a whole lot of Jews, a lot more than people think, whose value-system is completely different than that of the High Court or the Shin Bet, and who are not bound by the laws of the state, but by much more eternal laws, true laws."
Under the blog post titled "Terror organization," he went on to say that "as part of the boastful statement by the Shin Bet about the organization it 'exposed,' things I wrote in this blog several weeks ago were quoted as things from 'the head of the organization.'
To tell you the truth, I don't know what they in the Shin Bet wanted me to organize, and they should definitely look for other people to cast for the roles they need in their show for the media, but this urge of the Shin Bet to create an atmosphere, to put up appearances as if there is some 'organization' it exposed, clearly illustrates to us what those in the Shin Bet understand and are so afraid of."
Under a veil of secrecy, new cells of "hilltop youth" have been formed across the West Bank over the past few months. These groups seek to commit "price tag" attacks, which they say will inflame the situation in the Middle East, and bring redemption and the coming of the Messiah closer. The "hilltop youth," which the Shin Bet's Jewish division nicknamed "happy Jews," believe that exacting a price from the establishment will allow them to form a Jewish state based on Jewish moral values that appear in Jewish holy and literary sources.
Netanyahu and Rivlin as Nazi officers
The alleged arsonist, who smiled and joked as he was taken into custody, is 24-year old Meir Ettinger, the grandson of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, who was known for his racism and incitement against Arabs, as well as direct involvement in violent racist attacks.
His arrest came five days after the attack, and is the only one so far, despite eyewitness accounts that at least four men were seen running from the village after setting the house on fire with a firebomb and spraypainting it with racist graffiti.
As Meir Ettinger was taken into custody, police investigators told reporters from Ha’aretz newspaper that they suspect the involvement of a right-wing network that is based in Yitzhar settlement, in the northern West Bank, and has planned and carried out dozens of terror attacks against Palestinians.
The group is also suspected of carrying out the arson that burned the Church of the Loaves and Fishes, a holy site for Christians, late last year.
Shin Bet arrests Kahane's grandson, online incitement continues
Far-right activist Meir Ettinger suspected of involvement with extremist Jewish organization; police opens investigation into videos of Netanyahu, Rivlin wearing Nazi uniform.
Far-right activist Meir Ettinger was arrested on Monday on suspicion of involvement with an extremist Jewish organization, while police opened an investigation into videos posted on YouTube of President Rivlin and Prime Minister Netanyahu in Nazi uniform.
Ettinger, who was barred from entering the West Bank or Jerusalem for a year, was arrested by the Judea and Samaria Police and transferred to the Shin Bet for questioning. He is the grandson of far-right late US-born rabbi Meir Kahane, who advocated expelling Arabs from Israel and the Palestinian territories.
In a blog he runs, Ettinger wrote on Thursday, a day before the terror attack in Duma in which a Palestinian baby was murdered, that "the truth must be told - there is no terror organization, but there are a whole lot of Jews, a lot more than people think, whose value-system is completely different than that of the High Court or the Shin Bet, and who are not bound by the laws of the state, but by much more eternal laws, true laws."
Under the blog post titled "Terror organization," he went on to say that "as part of the boastful statement by the Shin Bet about the organization it 'exposed,' things I wrote in this blog several weeks ago were quoted as things from 'the head of the organization.'
To tell you the truth, I don't know what they in the Shin Bet wanted me to organize, and they should definitely look for other people to cast for the roles they need in their show for the media, but this urge of the Shin Bet to create an atmosphere, to put up appearances as if there is some 'organization' it exposed, clearly illustrates to us what those in the Shin Bet understand and are so afraid of."
Under a veil of secrecy, new cells of "hilltop youth" have been formed across the West Bank over the past few months. These groups seek to commit "price tag" attacks, which they say will inflame the situation in the Middle East, and bring redemption and the coming of the Messiah closer. The "hilltop youth," which the Shin Bet's Jewish division nicknamed "happy Jews," believe that exacting a price from the establishment will allow them to form a Jewish state based on Jewish moral values that appear in Jewish holy and literary sources.
Netanyahu and Rivlin as Nazi officers
The Israel Police has opened a criminal investigation against a man who calls himself "Asheriko from Facebook" who posted videos on YouTube that portray Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin in Nazi uniform and supposedly talking in German.
The State Attorney's Office authorized the investigation "on suspicion of insulting a public official." The video shows Rivlin in Gestapo uniform giving the Hitler salute and saying: "I am a bootlicking president and a self-hating hypocrite. When Jews are murdered, I don't really care. I love licking Muslims'… I am a Jew-hating Nazi. Sieg Heil, Sieg Heil!"
A caption at the end of the video declares: "Protest!!! Jewish blood is not cheap. Asheriko from Facebook." The man, who also calls himself Oshri, uploaded the videos from his home in New York, and admitted in a conversation with Ynet that he created them. "No one told me I'm being investigated. There is no crime in this," he said. "I made the videos and Rivlin's photo with the kaffiyeh and Hamas' logo."
What are you? A Kahane supporter?
"No, I'm just a secular man who has had enough of Jewish blood being treated as cheap. There hasn't been such a fuss when the Fogel family was slaughtered. Some Muslim was burned, probably a future terrorist, so there's a big fuss, and our president accuses the entire Jewish nation of the crime. It doesn't make sense. Where is the president when Jews are murdered every other day?"
Last year, he admitted, he uploaded photos of Rivlin, then-justice minister Tzipi Livni, then-finance minister Yair Lapid and other Israeli officials in SS uniform, in protest of their objection to the nationality bill. He uploaded the photos under the name "Natan Zoabi" and accompanied them with the text: "The anti-Semites who oppose a Jewish state in the Land of Israel." Police also arrested Gilad Kleiner from Kiryat Malachi on Monday after he incited against the LGBT community on Facebook on Friday, and praised Yishai Shlissel, who is suspected of murdering 16-year-old Shira Banki during the Jerusalem Pride Parade.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said Monday that "we intend on waging an uncompromising battle against Jewish terrorism. This is a fight for the state's image, and we have no intention of giving up on this fight."
He talked about the cabinet's decision to allow administrative arrests for Jewish suspects. "This is a drastic measure we will use sparingly," he vowed.
The State Attorney's Office authorized the investigation "on suspicion of insulting a public official." The video shows Rivlin in Gestapo uniform giving the Hitler salute and saying: "I am a bootlicking president and a self-hating hypocrite. When Jews are murdered, I don't really care. I love licking Muslims'… I am a Jew-hating Nazi. Sieg Heil, Sieg Heil!"
A caption at the end of the video declares: "Protest!!! Jewish blood is not cheap. Asheriko from Facebook." The man, who also calls himself Oshri, uploaded the videos from his home in New York, and admitted in a conversation with Ynet that he created them. "No one told me I'm being investigated. There is no crime in this," he said. "I made the videos and Rivlin's photo with the kaffiyeh and Hamas' logo."
What are you? A Kahane supporter?
"No, I'm just a secular man who has had enough of Jewish blood being treated as cheap. There hasn't been such a fuss when the Fogel family was slaughtered. Some Muslim was burned, probably a future terrorist, so there's a big fuss, and our president accuses the entire Jewish nation of the crime. It doesn't make sense. Where is the president when Jews are murdered every other day?"
Last year, he admitted, he uploaded photos of Rivlin, then-justice minister Tzipi Livni, then-finance minister Yair Lapid and other Israeli officials in SS uniform, in protest of their objection to the nationality bill. He uploaded the photos under the name "Natan Zoabi" and accompanied them with the text: "The anti-Semites who oppose a Jewish state in the Land of Israel." Police also arrested Gilad Kleiner from Kiryat Malachi on Monday after he incited against the LGBT community on Facebook on Friday, and praised Yishai Shlissel, who is suspected of murdering 16-year-old Shira Banki during the Jerusalem Pride Parade.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said Monday that "we intend on waging an uncompromising battle against Jewish terrorism. This is a fight for the state's image, and we have no intention of giving up on this fight."
He talked about the cabinet's decision to allow administrative arrests for Jewish suspects. "This is a drastic measure we will use sparingly," he vowed.
