(JNi.media) The attorney for Rabbi Meir Kahane’s grandson, Meir Ettinger, who is in prison under administrative detention, demanded on Tuesday that he be transferred to a different wing after receiving death threats from the Arab prisoners. The attorney demanded of the Israel Prison Service (IPS) that her client be moved to a safer wing of the prison because Arab security detainees are posing a threat to his life, harass him and constitute a real danger for him because of their large numbers.
Jewish activists Meir Ettinger and Evyatar Slonim, placed in administrative detention—an old British Mandate “temporary” regulation which is being employed by Israeli courts to incarcerate security risks whose alleged crimes cannot be proven—in August, were transferred to the security wing of Eshel prison near Be’er Sheva in early October. Activist Mordechai Meir, arrested a week before them, was not moved, due to a court order preventing his transfer.
“He is being threatened for several days by Palestinian prisoners,” Ettinger’s attorney, Sima Kochav, complained. “Among the threats and messages passed to him: ‘We killed two Kahanes, we will kill you, too,’ ‘Kahane is a pig,’ ‘We won’t let you live,’ ‘We’ll blow your head off’ and more, and more.”
Ettinger is the grandson of Rabbi Meir Kahane, who was murdered in 1990 in NY City by an Arab assassin. His uncle, Benjamin Kahane, was killed with his wife Talya in a shooting attack near the settlement of Ofra.
“Eshel Prison has a high security classification, with many [Arab] security prisoners,” Attorney Kochav wrote, “which makes the IPS’ surprising decision to transfer [Ettinger and Slonim] to a section which is the lions’ den for them doubly questionable.”
Kochav started her appeals to the IPS immediately after Ettinger had been transferred to the “separation wing,” where he is exposed to anti-Israel, Arab detainees. “I view this conduct as a very serious violation” on the part of IPS, Kochav wrote. “They keep [Palestinian] security prisoners in this wing, which means the IPS is violating its mandate and risking the life of a prisoner needlessly. Not only have they damaged his conditions unreasonably, disproportionately and contrary to the ordinance, but they are, at this moment, risking his life in a tangible way. The [Arabs’] cells are adjacent to his cell.”.
In her letter, Attorney Kochav pointed out that “while the prisoners exit to the yard, they knock on his cell doors, talk into his cell window, and threaten his life. Likewise during the outings, when the prisoners are in the yard, the detainee (Ettinger) is showered with curses, insults, and, worst of all, death threats. In addition, the prisoner in the cell next to Mr. Ettinger’s is banging on the walls throughout the night and shouting, in order to disturb and harm Mr. Ettinger.”
Kochav stressed, stopping just short of threatening, that Ettiger is the responsibility of the IPS and in their custody: “He should be guarded closely and monitored. Also, you must adhere to the ordinance regarding the food being served to him, which must be the same food served to IPS staff. This issue is paramount in our view, in light of the threats and the desire on the part of Arab prisoners to harm him.”