Meir Kahane’s Hunger-Striking Extremist Grandson Collapses in Prison
Jewish extremist Meir Ettinger goes on hunger strike. Image by Getty Images
Meir Ettinger, a suspected Jewish terrorist being held under Israel’s administrative detention policy, collapsed in prison nine days after launching a hunger strike.
Ettinger, grandson of the late far-right extremist Meir Kahane, was given emergency medical treatment on Tuesday, the Times of Israel reported the following day, citing Maariv. His hunger strike is in protest of his detention.
He has been held since August under a policy, generally used only against Palestinians, that allows Israeli authorities to hold suspected terrorists for six months at a time without filing formal charges.
According to The Jewish Press, which cited Hakol Hayehudi (Hebrew for The Jewish Voice), Ettinger and Eviatar Slonim, who recently joined the hunger strike, are being held in Eshel Prison near Beersheba. The two were moved in October to “the security prisoners’ section of the prison, where they are surrounded by Arab terrorists who threaten to kill them,” according to the Press.
Ettinger, who reportedly was transferred recently to solitary confinement, was arrested for “involvement in violent activities and terrorist attacks that occurred recently, and his role as part of a Jewish terrorist group,” according to Israeli authorities.
In December, lawyers for the two detainees accused the Shin Bet security service of torturing them, a charge Shin Bet leaders and Israel’s defense secretary denied.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
