Israel arrests Jewish extremists over deadly arson

Israel said on Thursday it had arrested several Jewish extremists for their suspected involvement in a deadly July arson attack on the West Bank home of a Palestinian family.

In this file photo, a man holds a picture of toddler Ali Saad Dawabsha.

Extremists hurled a firebomb into the home of the Dawabshe family as they were sleeping in the village of Duma, south of the city of Nablus. An 18-month-old toddler, Ali, immediately died. His 4-year-old brother was severely injured, as were the parents, who had tried to rescue the children. The father died days, the mother weeks after the attack from their critical burns.


Graffiti in Hebrew, including the word "revenge", along with a Star of David, were sprayed on the walls of the home. The attack had sparked international outrage, shocked both Israelis and Palestinians and was severely condemned by leaders on both sides, but Israel was beginning to face criticism for failing to bring the perpetrators to justice.

In the last few days, several youths have been arrested, suspected of belonging to a Jewish terrorist network, Israeli security officials said on Thursday. "Concrete suspicions" related to the terrorist attack in the village of Duma were being investigated, they said.

Other details of the investigation, including the identity of the suspects, remained under a gag order, they said in a statement. Lawyers of the suspects convened a news conference near Tel Aviv, in which they complained that their clients's basic rights had been violated by the Shin Bet internal security organisation.