Jerusalem – Israel jailed a suspected Jewish militant without trial on Tuesday, the first application of the controversial measure against a citizen in a government-ordered crackdown following the lethal torching of a Palestinian home.
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The suspect, Mordechai Meyer, a resident of a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, was arrested and placed under so-called “administrative detention” for six months, Israel’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.
It accused him of “involvement in violent activity and recent terrorist attacks as part of a Jewish terror group”.
Administrative detention, under which Israel holds hundreds of Palestinians and which civil liberties groups deplore as a blow to due process of the law, was among new measures Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet approved for Jews suspected in Friday’s arson in the West Bank. The attack killed a Palestinian toddler and severely injured three relatives.
Detention without trial is required, Israel says, to prevent further violence in cases where there is insufficient evidence to prosecute, or where going to court would risk exposing the identity of secret informants.
Two other Israelis with ties to far-right Jewish groups, Meir Ettinger and Eviatar Salonim, were arrested this week. Police said the former was remanded in custody pending further investigation but was not placed under administrative detention. They did immediately detail Salonim’s terms.
With years of sporadic Israeli hate crimes against Palestinians having turned fatal, and the security services complaining of a justice system that ties their hands in tackling suspects, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is at pains to show it has taken off the gloves.
Israeli commentators have questioned the resolve of security services which, when responding to Palestinian militant attacks, often round up suspects en masse as part of accelerated investigations.
According to Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan, another new measure approved by the security cabinet on Sunday for Israeli suspects was the violent shaking of an uncooperative subject under interrogation, known in Hebrew as “tiltul”.
Deemed a form of torture by liberties groups, tiltul’s use was largely curbed by Israel’s Supreme Court in a 1999 ruling.
Israel’s top-rated Channel 2 television quoted Ettinger’s lawyer as saying that his client had complained of being strapped to a chair by interrogators and shaken.
The lawyer could not be reached by Reuters for comment and police declined to respond, citing a gag order on the case.
Separately, Israeli police issued a rare public call on Tuesday for leads in the arson case. A police spokeswoman denied, however, that this signaled difficulties in the investigation.
Sadly, this Israeli nazi justice will shortly seek to do the very same to innocent roshei yeshiva and the ehrlicha rabbonim that speak out in support of Torah -despite their having nothing to do with anyone over the green line.
Police are asking information on the arson. They seem to have a problem finding a Jewish suspect after 5 days of beating up and terrorize anyone Jew. However, none of the accused are ready to admit to something they didn’t do. The police are aware there are 2 Arab clans in Duma bitter enemies of each other and murdering each other’s people. The building which was burned down was from one of the clans and the police still have the chutzpah to arrest this innocent Jew for the arson in Duma? What’s happening in Israel?
The Israeli government is despicable!
Bravo for the Security Cabinet. Terrorists are despicable no matter what their religion and we should treat them all equally. Meir Ettinger does as much good for the Jewish people as Hamas.
israeli communist at its high, detaining suspected militants and keeping them locked up for 6 months without being charged ,begining to look like german nazis
I agree, there is no evidence that this was not some arab or muslim doing it to try and frame Jews. Muslims dont care about the lives of their children, they sacrifice them regularly as martyrs. This article is ridiculous, the “Occupied West Bank” is neither. Taken straight from Israel hating wire service I gather. This is most likely muslim upon muslim violence. they know enough Hebrew to scrawl things on the wall. BTW, muslims do understand revenge and violence…it is perhaps the only thing they respond to.