JERUSALEM (JTA) — There is still not enough evidence available to indict the Jewish extremists allegedly responsible for the firebombing of a Palestinian home that killed an infant and his parents, Israel’s defense minister said.
Without the evidence, the military has placed several Jewish extremists in administrative detention, in which they can be held for six months at a time, renewable indefinitely, without charge.
“Once we discovered which group was responsible for the incident, and we realized that we were unable to bring them to justice, we opted for house arrests and administrative detentions,” Moshe Yaalon said Monday during a briefing to Israeli reporters, according to news reports. “I hope that soon we will solve it completely. “The group responsible is made up of Jewish fanatics who want a religious kingdom and regime based on Jewish law.”
Yaalon noted that there have been no serious attacks on Palestinian targets since the arrests and detentions.
Ali Dawabsheh, 18 months, was killed in the July 31 attack in the West Bank village of Duma. His father, Saad, died a week later of his injuries and his mother, Reham, died more than a month later. His 4-year-old brother, Ahmed, was seriously burnt but survived the attack.
Days after the attack, Israel’s Security Cabinet authorized the Shin Bet security service to use “all means at their disposal” to find the perpetrators of the firebombing.
