Israel court extends detention of extremist Jewish leader

This is the first time Israel placed an Israeli under administrative detention since it launched a crackdown on Jewish militants following a pair of deadly attacks last week. The suspects have yet to be captured, Xinhua reported.

Following the Thursday night attack Rivlin said in a statement: “it seems we have been lax in our treatment of the phenomena of Jewish terrorism”.

Israel normally applies the measure, which dates from British-mandated Palestine, against Palestinians, allowing renewable six-month periods of detention without trial.

However, Israel’s security cabinet recently approved new measures allowing “administrative detention” against Israelis who attack Palestinians, a plan which critics say is ineffective unless the issue of settlements is resolved.

Whereas on the one hand security officials claim they are needed for security reasons to handle terrorism, human rights groups charge against the often-prolonged incarceration without due process.

A police spokeswoman said Ettinger, who is aged around 20, was suspected of “nationalist crimes” but did not accuse him of direct involvement in Friday’s firebombing.

The official noted that the suspects were sophisticated in their crime since they did not bring any mobile phones with them in order to avoid being tracked.

The masked assailants reportedly hurled Molotov cocktails through the windows, which were left open because of the summer heat.

The family’s small brick and cement home in the village of Douma was gutted by fire, and a Jewish Star of David spray-painted on a wall along with the words “revenge” and “long live the Messiah”. His four-year old brother and both his parents were injured. The baby’s mother sustained 70 percent burns.

The Israeli forces stormed the holy site, which is located in the Israeli-occupied Old City of al-Quds, on Sunday and prevented all Palestinian woman and men under the age of 30 from entering it, the Palestinian Ministry of Endowments in East al-Quds said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said directly after the attack that he was “shocked over this reprehensible and horrific act”.