Israeli Court Upholds Administrative Detention for Meir Kahane’s Grandson
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
An Israeli court upheld the administrative detention order for a suspected Jewish extremist.
The Lod District Court on Sunday said the order issued on Aug. 15 by Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon against Meir Ettinger, the grandson of the slain far-right activist Meir Kahane, will continue for six months.
Israeli authorities believe Ettinger oversees a Jewish terrorist group. He was arrested in connection with the firebombing of a home in the West Bank Palestinian village of Duma that left an infant and his parents dead. No suspects have been charged in the attack.
Shin Bet officials have said Ettinger heads a movement that also was responsible for the June arson of the historic Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes and seeks to bring down the government and replace it with a Jewish theocracy.
Ettinger does not have American citizenship. His mother, Tova, Kahane’s daughter, made aliyah from the United States.
Under administrative detention, which is more commonly used for Palestinian prisoners, one can be held for six months without being charged or tried. The order can be renewed indefinitely.
Two other Jewish men from the West Bank are being held in administrative detention in connection with the same attack.
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