Israel on Sunday indicted two Jewish extremists suspected of planning and carrying out a July arson attack on a Palestinian home that killed a toddler and his parents. The long-awaited indictment follows months of investigations into a web of Jewish extremists operating in Judea and Samaria. The indictment named Amiram Ben-Uliel, 21, as the main suspect in the attack. A 17-year-old minor was charged as an accessory. Ben-Uliel faces charges of three counts of murder, attempted murder, arson and conspiracy to commit a hate crime. He is married and has one child. Yinon Reuveni, 20, and another minor were charged over other incidents of violence against Palestinians. All four were charged with belonging to a terrorist organization. The arson attack in the West Bank village of Duma killed 18-month-old Ali Dawabsha, while his mother, Riham, and father, Saad, died shortly thereafter. Ali's 4-year-old brother Ahmed remains hospitalized. The assailants firebombed the house at night while the family was sleeping. The attack was condemned across the Israeli political spectrum, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to show "zero tolerance" in the fight to bring the assailants to justice. Israel has authorized a series of steps, including holding several suspects without charge -- a tactic typically used against Palestinian terrorists -- to crack the case. Israel's Shin Bet security service said Sunday that the suspects admitted to carrying out the Duma attack, saying it was in retaliation for the killing of an Israeli settler by Palestinians a month earlier. It said all the suspects were part of a group of extremists that had carried out a series of attacks over the years in a religiously inspired campaign to undermine the government and sow fear among non-Jews. The indictment said Ben-Uliel admitted to spraying graffiti on the Dawabsha family home and then tossing a firebomb through a bedroom window before fleeing the scene. Ben-Uliel's parents said they believed in his innocence, and that he was tortured during interrogation. Nasser Dawabsha, Saad's brother, said the indictments were not enough. "It's clear the Israeli institutions are not serious," he said. "It's clear there was an organization behind this crime, even the media knows that. And the government was not serious in preventing it and is not serious in pursuing the killers." Jewish extremists have for years vandalized or set fire to Palestinian property, as well as mosques, churches, the offices of dovish Israeli groups and even Israeli military bases. These so-called "price-tag" attacks seek to exact a cost for Palestinian attacks and for Israeli steps seen as favoring the Palestinians. The extremists are part of a movement known as the "hilltop youth," a leaderless group of young people who set up unauthorized outposts, usually clusters of trailers, on hilltops in Judea and Samaria. A lawyer for one of the suspects has said his client gave a coerced confession after interrogators deprived him of sleep and tied him upside down by his feet. According to the indictment, Ben-Uliel and the underage suspect had conspired to avenge the death of Malachi Rosenfeld, who was shot and killed by Palestinians in June. They had allegedly planned to kill Palestinians, initially planning to target a home in Duma and later attack another home in the adjacent village of Majdal. According to Ben-Uliel's confession and re-enactment, he had prepared a bag with two bottles filled with accelerant, rags, a lighter and a box of matches, gloves and black spray paint. On the night of July 30, Ben-Uliel donned dark clothing and left his home to meet up with his accomplice at a cave. When the minor didn't show up, he says, Ben-Uliel decided to execute the plan alone. When he arrived at the outskirts of Duma he tied his shirt around his head to hide his face and put on the gloves. He looked for a home with people inside, passing over the first houses he saw and entering deep into the village before selecting the target. He said he searched for a large, impressive house. First he spray-painted "revenge" and "long live the king messiah" on the walls of a two-story home owned by Mamun Dawabsha and then hurled a firebomb through the window with the intent of killing the inhabitants, but the house was empty. The house immediately caught fire. He then targeted the adjacent home, the home of Riham and Saad Dawabsha, with the second firebomb. After trying to open two windows unsuccessfully, he managed to open a bedroom window and threw the firebomb inside. He then fled the scene.
