Alleged Jewish terrorist organization head Meir Ettinger, a grandson of the late extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane, met friends from the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva in Yitzhar, and began to be drawn to hasidic-messianic ideas about hastening salvation through deeds. The president of the yeshiva is Chabad Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh, a controversial figure who has been arrested for a series of publications about Arabs, including pamphlets stating that Arabs have no right to live in Israel. According to the Shin Bet, Ettinger has continued to radicalize since then.
Above: Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh, left; Meir Ettinger, right
Ynet reports:
…[Meir] Ettinger was born in Jerusalem to Mordechai Ettinger, a rabbi at the Har Hamor and Ateret Kohanim yeshivas in Jerusalem, and Tova, the daughter of Rabbi Meir Kahane, the founder of the outlawed Kach movement. [Ettinger is named after his grandfather Kahane, who was assassinated in 1990.] He got married in October 2014.
"I've lost the energy for it," Tova Ettinger told Ynet on Monday following her grandson's arrest.
Ettinger embarked on this path six years ago in the outpost of Ramat Magron, which was eventually evacuated, and with time became a well-known figure. He has previously encountered security forces in several incidents, such as when he entered Joseph's Tombin Nablus despite not being approved, and involvement in collecting information on security forces planning to evacuate West Bank outposts, which led to more than six months of detention for Ettinger.
At this point, he met friends from the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva in Yitzhar, and began to be drawn to Hasidic-messianic ideas about hastening salvation through deeds. The president of the yeshiva is Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh, a controversial figure who has been arrested for a series of publications about Arabs, including pamphlets stating that Arabs have no right to live in Israel.
According to the Shin Bet, Ettinger has continued to radicalize since then, and is at the head of a new organization, which was responsible for the arson at the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fish in June.…