Israeli arrested after West Bank arson that killed toddler

The Israeli security cabinet have called for a crackdown on Jewish extremists with harsher measures following an arson attack which killed a Palestinian toddler.

Ettinger, a grandson of Meir Kahane, a rabbi who founded the racist anti-Arab movement Kach and was assassinated in 1990, was arrested in Safed in northern Israel “because of his activities in a Jewish extremist organisation”, a spokesman for the domestic intelligence service Shin Bet told AFP. The suspects have yet to be captured.

It said the methods approved included “the use of administrative detentions in appropriate cases”, with the approval of the state attorney general. “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.

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.

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.

The arrest comes on the heels of a violent spate of attacks in Israel and the Palestinian territories that threatened to ignite widespread violence in the region.

The official said that whoever set the house on fire were sophisticated in their crimes. Villagers said the arsonists were settlers from a nearby Jewish settlement.

The Shin Bet would not say whether Ettinger had anything to do with the attack on the West Bank home, which killed 18-month-old Ali Dawabsheh and severely injured his parents and 4-year-old brother. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said directly after the attack that he was “shocked over this reprehensible and horrific act”.

“We must maintain law and order, and prevent all forms of inexplicable horrors, in the name of any kind of religious conviction, from any side”.