Meir Kahane’s Hunger-Striking Extremist Grandson Collapses in Prison

Jewish extremist Meir Ettinger goes on hunger strike. Image by Getty Images
Meir Ettinger, a suspected Jewish terrorist being held under Israel’s administrative detention policy, collapsed in prison nine days after launching a hunger strike.
Ettinger, grandson of the late far-right extremist Meir Kahane, was given emergency medical treatment on Tuesday, the Times of Israel reported the following day, citing Maariv. His hunger strike is in protest of his detention.
He has been held since August under a policy, generally used only against Palestinians, that allows Israeli authorities to hold suspected terrorists for six months at a time without filing formal charges.
According to The Jewish Press, which cited Hakol Hayehudi (Hebrew for The Jewish Voice), Ettinger and Eviatar Slonim, who recently joined the hunger strike, are being held in Eshel Prison near Beersheba. The two were moved in October to “the security prisoners’ section of the prison, where they are surrounded by Arab terrorists who threaten to kill them,” according to the Press.
Ettinger, who reportedly was transferred recently to solitary confinement, was arrested for “involvement in violent activities and terrorist attacks that occurred recently, and his role as part of a Jewish terrorist group,” according to Israeli authorities.
In December, lawyers for the two detainees accused the Shin Bet security service of torturing them, a charge Shin Bet leaders and Israel’s defense secretary denied.
Why I became the Forward’s editor-in-chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
— Alyssa Katz, editor-in-chief
