“This measure is dangerous … for the entire legal system and for democracy,” said Aharon Rozeh, a lawyer for Ettinger and Slonim, adding that his clients were innocent.

Israel’s Shin Bet security agency has accused Ettinger of leading an extremist Jewish movement that encouraged attacks on Palestinian property and Christian holy sites, including an arson attack in June on a church near the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel that marks the site of a New Testament story about the miracle of the loaves and fish.