Judge Shmuel Melamed decided Thursday morning to extend the
detention of Yehuda Piltz, the suspect accused of attacking Rabbi Aharon Leib
Shteinman on Tuesday. Piltz will also be transferred to a psychiatric hospital.
The attack on Rabbi Shteinman, the 99-year-old leader of
Israel's Lithuanian hareidi community, took place Tuesday night when a man in
his 20's broke into his home and reportedly proceeded to shake the rabbi vigorously.
The assailant was restrained by the rabbi's followers who were nearby. Rabbi
Shteinman is still reportedly recovering from the incident.
In addition to extending his detention for a further three
days, Judge Melamed also ordered prison authorities to transfer Piltz to the
Abarbanel Psychiatric Hospital, and indicated that he is "in a psychotic
state."
An indictment is expected to be served against the suspect
on Friday.
Letter sent by suspects family
Meanwhile Piltz's family has delivered a letter to the home
of Rabbi Shteinman stating that Piltz was mentally unwell and his behavior was
not motivated by rational thinking. Despite this, police claim that the attack
had a direct connection to a recent Jerusalem municipality elections dispute between
the main Degel Hatorah party led by Rabbi Shteinman and a breakaway faction led
by another senior community leader, Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach.
Rabbi Auerbach presented a separate list, the Bnei Torah
(Sons of Torah) party, which won 1 seat on the council, while the Degel Hatorah
list that follows the authority of Rabbi Shteinman picked up 8 seats.
During the elections Rabbi Shteinman had spoken out harshly
against Rabbi Auerbach, who found a threatening note on his car a day ahead of
Tuesday's election demanding he cancel the list set to compete with Degel
Hatorah.
The argument between the supporters of Rabbi Shteinman and
Rabbi Auerbach trails back to a dispute over who would succeed Rabbi Yosef
Shalom Elyashiv, when he passed away in 2011.
Protests
Last night a rally was held in the hareidi city of Kiryat
Sefer in protest of the attack against Rabbi Shteinman. During the event, the
city's chief rabbi read out a letter from the suspect's family, which spoke of
him as a disturbed individual and condemned what it said was the
"shocking" attack.
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