Israel's security service says it has arrested five Israeli yeshiva students allegedly involved in last year's fatal stoning of a Palestinian woman in the West Bank. The arrests in late December have heightened tensions between the state and radical Israeli settlers and their supporters ahead of national elections in April.
Israel's Shin Bet security service says the teenage suspects
were arrested on grave terrorism and murder charges.
Families of the suspects
have cited unfair treatment at the hands of the state and have received sympathy at high levels of office. This has prompted accusations that Israeli authorities will ease potential punishment of suspects in a murder case.
Israeli media broadcast a recording Thursday of a phone call between Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and the mother of one of the suspects. The mother says her son has not yet seen a lawyer. Shaked answers that while she can't intervene in the investigation, she will speak to the state prosecutor.
"Be strong, and you know, it will end in the coming days, I estimate," Shaked says.
...The Shin Bet says the suspects are students at the Pri Haaretz yeshiva in the Rehelim settlement in the northern West Bank. On the Saturday morning after the attack, the agency says, the teens traveled to Rehelim from the nearby settlement of Yitzhar
for "a briefing for youths studying at the yeshiva on how to prepare and cope with Shin Bet investigations."
...This would be unusual, because most yeshiva students would observe the religious injunction not to drive on the Sabbath. Sympathetic rabbis
reportedly ruled that the settler activists could violate the Sabbath because the Shin Bet investigation could pose a danger to their lives.
Since Shaked's call, some suspects have reportedly met with attorneys. The lawyers say their clients have been shackled to chairs, shouted at, cursed and denied their civil rights — and that two of the youths have still not been allowed to meet with legal counsel.
Attorney Itamar Ben-Gvir has called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop the Shin Bet and demand the release of the suspects.
"Mister prime minister, we shout out and cry to you, they are impinging on the rights of children. Stop this behavior," Ben-Gvir said during a
news conference.
Interesting on multiple levels.
First, kudos to Shin Bet for doing a good job.
Second...shame on the politicians calling for kid glove treatment and release of terrorists.
Third, they are being treated like Palestinians youth taken into custody. Tough luck parents. At least some got to see a lawyer.
Lastly...the political dynamics are disturbing. Israel has a real problem on its hands with these extremists and what seems like a tacit support from certain political wings for looking the other way at violence from Jewish extremists.