Police arrests four more Jewish extremist group members
Additional Lehava operatives nabbed on suspicion of incitement to violence as part of clampdown of fringe organization; group leader: 'Police ignoring court rulings'
Police arrested on Sunday four members of the radical right organization Lehava (a group opposed to Arab-Jewish coexistence) on suspicion of incitement to violence.
The Judea and Samaria District Police took into custody eight activists in the group and later released four of them home.
The arrests are part of a clampdown on the fringe organization, which has become a symbol of rising anti-Arab sentiment.
Last week, police arrested 10 Lehava members, including its leader Benzi Gopstein, on suspicion of racist incitement and calls to violence. The group has sought to break up Arab-Jewish couples and has waged campaigns to prevent Jews and Arabs from working together.
Those arrested on Sunday reside in Jerusalem, Rishon LeZion, Beitar Illit, Netivot and Herzliya. Attorney Ben Gvir criticized the arrests, claiming that "the investigation could have been carried out without arrests…more serious than that is the fact that the officers ignore the ruling of the court in recent days that repeatedly criticized them and determined that calls against assimilation are not a violation of the law."
Lehava chairman Benzi Gopstein, who is currently under house arrest, said in response to the arrests today: "(Deputy State Prosecutor) Shai Nitzan's 'thought police' continues to fight against good Jews whose only sin is their battle against assimilation. I urge rabbis to protest against the arrests made today. Today it's us and tomorrow it's you."
On Tuesday, the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court extended the arrest of the head of the extreme right-wing organization by three days.
Judge Eitan Kornhauser said his decision was made because of the "high degree of danger" posed by the defendant, and for fear of obstruction of justice.
Police described last week the investigation as elaborate, whose covert phase ended with the arrests. In addition to Gopstein, a resident of Kiryat Arba, operatives were arrested across Israel, including in the cities of Petah Tikva, Netivot, and Jerusalem.
Gopstein's lawyer, Itamar Ben Gvir, claimed at the time that extensive damage was done to his client's home during the police search. Ben Gvir further claimed that the arrest was politically motivated. "The politicians from the left applied pressure for the police to act against Lehava, even though it's clear to them that this is a law-abiding organization openly acting against assimilation," he said. "This is a disgrace."
Three Lehava members were indicted last week on charges of torching a bilingual Hebrew-Arabic school in Jerusalem last month.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
