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Crackdown continues on Jewish extremists with arrests, administrative detention
Israeli authorities continued to take measures against Jewish terror suspects who they believe are responsible for a series of violent attacks on Palestinian and non-Jewish targets.
10 days ago, the country was shocked by two deadly attacks. An ultra-Orthodox man stabbed six people at the Jerusalem gay pride parade and hours later a Palestinian home in the West Bank village of Duma was set ablaze, most likely by Jewish extremists. An 18-month-old baby died at the scene of the Duma attack, while his father Sa’ad Dawabshe succumbed to wounds he sustained and died over the weekend. Israeli leaders thoroughly condemned the attacks, calling them acts of terror and pledged to defeat those responsible.
Last week, 18-year-old Mordechai Mayer was handed a six-month administrative detention order, which allows him to be held without charge or trial. The anti-terror measure has only previously been applied to Palestinian terror suspects. Mayer has previously been questioned by police over arson attacks at two prominent churches. Over the weekend, two men arrested last week were also given six-month administrative detention orders. Meir Ettinger a well-known extremist agitator and Aviatar Slonim, who is suspected of belonging to an extremist group which aims to harm Arabs, have previously been banned from entering Jerusalem and the West Bank due to their fanatical activity.
Yesterday, the Shin Bet and Israel Police made a further nine arrests in the West Bank outposts of Adei Ad, Baladim and Kochav Hashachar. Full details of the raids are under a gag order, but Adei Ad is located near to Duma where the recent arson attack occurred.
Over the weekend, Israeli leaders reaffirmed their determination to combat Jewish terror. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “We will not countenance terrorism of any kind,” opposition leader Isaac Herzog called Dawabshe “another victim of terrorism and extremism.” Meanwhile, Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett wrote in the New York Times, that although Jewish terrorists are a “fringe group,” it “needs to be eradicated swiftly and forcefully.”