Israel extends 'administrative detention' law to Jewish citizens

JERUSALEM, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- Israel announced Jewish terrorist suspects will be detained without trial, following protests against an alleged radicalized Jewish fringe.

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said Sunday "administrative detention" laws in which suspects can be jailed for up to six months, typically used against alleged Palestinian radicals, would equally apply to Jewish citizens. He added the directive came as a response to two incidents, and subsequent protests, last week: the firebombing of a West Bank home in which an 18-month old Palestinian boy died, and the stabbing of six people, one of whom died, at Jerusalem's Gay Pride parade.

"We recently witnessed two abhorrent crimes," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his Cabinet Sunday at a weekly meeting. "I have instructed security and law-enforcement officials to use all legal means at their disposal to apprehend the murderers and deal with the stabber and the arsonists to the fullest extent of the law. We are determined to vigorously fight manifestations of hate, fanaticism and terrorism from whatever side."

Weekend protests against a radicalized right-wing Jewish fringe drew thousands of demonstrators across Israel over the weekend. The extension of the detention law is a result of the government's inability to contain right-wing violence in the country. The incidents have increased the visibility of Jewish extremists, and the firebombing incident exacerbated tensions between Palestinians and Jews in the West Bank.

Seventeen churches and mosques have been set on fire in the past four years with no arrests.