JERUSALEM (JTA) — Several Jewish teens who study in a West Bank yeshiva high school have been arrested for involvement in the death of a Palestinian mother of nine.
Aisha Mohammed Rabi, 47, was killed in mid-October at the Tapuah Junction in the northern West Bank. A rock thrown at the car driven by her husband struck her in the head and killed her.
The Israel Security Agency, or Shin Bet, said in a statement on Sunday that the suspects are minors who study in the Pri Ha’aretz yeshiva in Rehelim, a settlement in the northern West Bank located near the scene of the attack.
On the Saturday morning after the attack, activists violated the Sabbath to drive from Yitzhar to the yeshiva to instruct youths learning there on how handle an ISA interrogation, the agency said in the statement.
Other details in the case, including the identities of the teens, are under a gag order.
The ISA noted in the statement that there are is a “deliberate and continuing effort” to delegitimize the security agency.
“The ISA will not slacken in its continuing counter-terrorist efforts, be the terrorism Jewish or Palestinian, which are according to official values and for the security of Israel,” the statement said.
Three teens were arrested on Sunday and barred for a week from seeing their attorneys. Two boys were arrested at the yeshiva on Saturday and also are being withheld from their attorneys.
The attorneys representing the teens say they have witnesses that place them away from the area at the time of the attack. They also say that their clients have been tortured while in custody.
