Israeli authorities refuted reports of a far-right plot to attack Arabs in revenge for the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva massacre.
The Shin Bet internal security service said in statements carried by Israeli media Sunday that there was no evidence that extremists associated with Mercaz HaRav hatched a revenge plot after a Palestinian gunman killed eight students at the yeshiva on March 7.
Channel 1 television reported last week that one of the Mercaz HaRav rabbis authorized a small group of former students to attack Arabs after the killings, stirring concern in the Jewish state that tit-for-tat violence in Jerusalem could spiral out of control.
Though Mercaz HaRav’s faculty openly opposes the Olmert government’s policies vis-a-vis the Palestinians, it also issued statements forbidding vigilantism.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
