The Israeli government has announced it will have “zero tolerance” for Jewish extremists following a surge of fanatical attacks which have left two children dead.
Israel’s security cabinet approved strict new measures on Sunday against Israelis who attack Palestinians, which include “administrative detention” for far-right Jewish suspects under which detainees can be held for months or years without charges to help curb "fanaticism and terrorism”.
The measures come after suspected Jewish extremists set fire to a Palestinian home in the West Bank on Friday killing an 18-month-old child and the death of 16-year-old Shira Banki, who died after being stabbed by an ultra-orthodox Jew at a gay pride parade in Jerusalem on Thursday.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
In a statement Israel’s security cabinet said it had called on the security agencies “to take all necessary steps to apprehend those responsible and prevent similar acts”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was united against “the criminals among our people”.
He said: “We are determined to vigorously fight manifestations of hate, fanaticism and terrorism from whatever side. This is a matter of basic humanity and is at the foundation of our enlightened Jewish values.”
Palestinians protest against the death of the 18-month-old child killed in an arson attack in the West Bank
According to the Jewish Chronicle an estimated 10,000 people attended a rally in Jerusalem in protest of the attacks and to warn against the radicalized violence growing from certain fringes of the country’s religious community.
Crowds also gathered in central Zion Square on Sunday to rally against the violence after news broke that the teenage girl, Banki, had died of her wounds.
Read more: Anger grows at death of Palestinian toddler killed in firebombing
Banki was one of six people wounded in Thursday’s attack, which took place after Schissel had just been released after spending 10 years in prison for carrying out a similar attack at a gay pride parade in 2005.
On Sunday night a joint Israeli and Palestinian prayer vigil was held in the west Bank, advocating Israeli-Palestinian coexistence.
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Ziad Zabateen, a Palestinian from Bethlehem said: “We have to look to be neighbours in a good way and to believe that the path to peace is the right one.”
“We have no other choice; we have to live together without problems, without violence, without terror, without anything.”
Additional reporting by Associated Press
