Image by Getty Images

An accused Jewish extremist with dual Israeli and American citizenship was released from an Israeli prison after being jailed without charges for five months.

Mordechai Meyer, 18, of the West Bank settlement of Maale Adumim, was set free Monday after being under administrative detention since August for his suspected involvement in an arson attack more than a year ago on a Baptist abbey in Jerusalem. He was released hours after three suspects, including two minors, were charged in the attack on the Dormition Abbey, Haaretz reported.

The Shin Bet security service ordered Meyer’s jailing immediately after a firebombing by alleged Jewish terrorists killed a Palestinian toddler and his parents in the West Bank village of Duma.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

As a condition of his release, Meyer must remain under house arrest at night and may not enter the West Bank. His attorney called the requirements “an earthquake.”

“A man sat in jail for five months for nothing,” the attorney, Itzhak Bam of the Honenu organization, told Haaretz. “We will demand a reconsideration of all the administrative orders and administrative detentions that were apparently issued on the basis of the Shin Bet’s erroneous information.”

In a statement, the Shin Bet said Meyer “belongs to a Jewish terror organization, some of whose members have been served with serious indictments. The basis of his administrative detention was the immediate risk he posed as a member of this organization, and as someone who was involved in its activities.”

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’re near the end of our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we have a very ambitious goal of $127,000 by April 21.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Make a Passover Gift Today!

$90 $180

$360

Other amount