Suspected far-right radicals are indicted

Fifteen are charged following Jordan border incident, one for vandalizing IDF post and another for throwing stones.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
police stops activist from entering price-tag apt._311 (photo credit: marc israel sellem)
police stops activist from entering price-tag apt._311
(photo credit: marc israel sellem)
State prosecutors and police on Thursday charged 17 Jews with an assortment of nationalistically motivated crimes as part of a new effort to clamp down on far-right extremists.
Fifteen activists accused of breaking into a closed military zone near the Jordanian border this week were charged in the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court.
The suspects – eight minors and seven adults – allegedly carried out the acts to protest Jordan’s criticism of Israel’s decision to temporarily close the wooden Mugrabi Bridge to the Temple Mount because it is dangerous to use.
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The court said the suspects broke through an electronic border fence designed to keep civilians away from the miner-igged area, and barricaded themselves in an abandoned monastery.
The court released five of the adults to house arrest and banned them from the Jordan Valley, while two were kept in custody “until further notice.”
All of the minors were released and barred from entering the Jordan Valley, with one being placed under house arrest.
Also on Thursday, a 23-yearold activist arrested that morning for defacing an IDF position in the West Bank was charged in the Kfar Saba Magistrate’s Court.
A 17-year-old girl from the Jewish neighborhood of Beit Hadassah in Hebron was also charged in the Petah Tikva Magistrate’s Court with throwing rocks at Palestinian vehicles.
Police are working on several additional investigations into far-right offenses and believe additional suspects will be served with indictments soon.
Five activists who were arrested in the capital on Wednesday were to be kept in custody until at least Friday so police could continue the investigation, the Jerusalem Magistrates Court decided on Thursday morning. The five and another young man were arrested on Wednesday in the Kiryat Moshe neighborhood in connection to spate of “price-tag” attacks around Jerusalem and the West Bank.
The sixth man was transferred to the Judea and Samaria police district, where he is wanted in connection with other price-tag attacks.
On Wednesday, when the police arrested the six men in their apartment, they were met by dozens of angry religious demonstrators outside.
Far-right leaders, including Itamar Ben-Gvir and Baruch Marzel, said the police illegally searched the apartment without proper authorization