Israel begins crackdown on extremists

Israel said Tuesday it was interrogating the suspected head of a Jewish extremist group in the first arrest of an Israeli suspect following last week’s arson attack in the West Bank that killed a Palestinian toddler and wounded his brother and parents.

Suspected Jewish extremists set fire to a Palestinian home in the West Bank, burning a toddler to death on Friday.

Currently, 379 of the 5,686 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jail are on administrative detention, according to official figures. “The Israeli government bears direct responsibility for this terrorist act as it is intentionally keeping silent and is refusing to brand these groups as illegal”, the statement said.

“The cabinet is instructing the security services to take all necessary steps to bring those responsible to justice and to prevent similar acts in the future”, it said.

Earlier on Sunday, the defence ministry said that Yaalon approved using administrative detention against the suspects of the arson attack in Duma once and if they are apprehended.

Israel now applies administrative detention exclusively to Palestinians and its extension to Israelis reflects the government’s frustration at the failure to track down the assailants.

The diplomatic-security cabinet convened on Sunday evening for a special session devoted to the authorities’ response to the arson attack believed to have been committed by far-right Jews in a Palestinian village.

This crime would not have happened if the Israeli regime didn’t insist on settlement expansion and settlers’ protection, spokesman for the PA Nabil Abu Roudeina said. His four-year old brother and both his parents were injured. The baby’s mother sustained 70 percent burns.

Thousands of people joined political leaders and President Reuven Rivlin at rallies in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa on Saturday night to condemn violence in Israeli society, including the Duma attack, as well as the stabbing attack at Jerusalem’s annual gay pride parade on Thursday.