Duma arson attack is terrorism, says Israel's opposition leader

Call for far-right Jewish groups to be outlawed after murder of 18-month-old Palestinian boy

A man protests in Hebron about the fatal arson attack in Duma (EPA)

Israeli politicians called yesterday for a crackdown against violence by Jewish extremists a day after an 18-month-old Palestinian boy was burned alive during an attack in the occupied West Bank.

Opposition leader Isaac Herzog, head of the Zionist Union party, stressed that actions and not just words were needed in response to the petrol bomb attack in Duma village that killed Ali Dawabsha and seriously wounded his parents and four-year-old brother. All three of the family members remained in a critical condition in hospital last night, having sustained severe burns.

“If I were Prime Minister I would order the General Security Service to treat Jewish terrorism in the same way it treats Islamic terrorism, with determination,” Mr Herzog wrote on his Facebook page. He called for administrative detentions, outlawing of far-right organisations and even home demolitions – tactics used against Palestinians – to be deployed in the fight against Jewish violence. “Everything that is valid against Islamist terror is valid also here,” he wrote.

Head of the Zionist Union party, Isaac Herzog, stressed that actions and not just words were needed (EPA)

Meanwhile, clashes broke out between Palestinian youths and soldiers in Jalazone refugee camp near Ramallah after the funeral of a 17-year-old, Laith Khaldi, who died after being shot by troops late Friday during protests over the toddler’s death. No casualties or arrests were reported following the clashes. The army said Mr Khaldi had thrown a petrol bomb at a military position, but Palestinian officials said an autopsy showed he had been shot in the back and termed the shooting an “assassination”.

The Duma attack was condemned by the UN Security Council, and Palestinian and Israeli leaders denounced it as an act of terror. The United States, the European Union and other countries also denounced the attack and called for calm. After the attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was committed to “fight this evil, to find the perpetrators [and] to bring them to justice”. But the incident prompted Israeli president Reuven Rivlin to voice regret that the country had been “lax” in dealing with Jewish extremists.

According to the Israeli NGO Yesh Din, which monitors law enforcement in the West Bank, there have been at least 15 instances of house burnings by suspected Jewish extremists in the West Bank since 2008.

“If [the police] had taken these crimes more seriously, maybe what happened in Duma could have been prevented,” said Yesh Din spokesman Gilad Grossman.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld could not be reached for comment last night, but has in the past said that security forces work to “prevent and respond to crimes with a nationalist motive”.