4 Jewish ultra-nationalists, incl. two minors, charged with violent crimes against Palestinians
Israeli prosecutors have indicted four Jewish extremists in various violent crimes against Palestinians, including a July arson in which an 18-month-old baby was killed along with his parents.
In the high-profile arson killings in the West Bank two people were charged. Amiram Ben-Uliel, a 21-year-old from Jerusalem, is the main suspect in the murder while an unnamed minor was named an accessory.
Yinon Reuveni, 20, and another minor were charged for other violence against Palestinians.
The Sunday indictments come after months of investigation, which dragged on as Palestinians were furious over its slow pace. The night firebombing in the village of Duma, which killed an infant, Ali Dawabsheh, and fatally injured his parents Riham and Saad, fueled the ongoing wave of animosity between Palestinians and Jews.
The attack was condemned across the political spectrum of Israel, while the Israel Defense Forces, which is responsible for security in the West Bank, described it as Jewish terrorism.
Ben-Uliel was arrested by the Israeli security service Shin Bet on December 1. According to the indictment, he decided to commit the arson in retaliation for the July murder of Malachai Rosenfeld, not far from Duma.
The young man is the eldest son in a family of the Karmei Zur settlement rabbi, where he grew up, Haaretz newspaper reported. He spent years living in various outposts as part of the Hilltop Youth Movement, a group of young Jews who organize unauthorized trailer communes on the hilltops in the West Bank that are meant to claim the land from the Palestinians. He is married to Orian Nizri, an activist known for her extremism and violence, and has a previous criminal record.
Yinon Reuveni is accused of another arson that targeted the Church of Loaves and Fishes in the Galilee. The other minor is suspected of a series of vandalism incidents and setting on fire cars and other property.
Some details related to other offenses allegedly committed by the accused were not published in accordance with a gag order.
