Development in "Jewish terrorist" case. Ynet learned that the police arrested on Thursday the parents of David Sitbon, suspected of aiding alleged Jewish terrorist Haim Pearlman, after they arrived at Ben Gurion Airport.

"The arrest of the Sitbon couple is intended to check whether they are aware of the actions of their son, who has been arrested for a few days in connection with the 'Jewish terrorist' case," said a law enforcement official knowledgeable of the case to Ynet on Thursday.

It was also reported that the couple will apparently be released on Thursday night.

Sitbon is suspected of breaking into an IDF base and stealing a weapon, which he then allegedly passed on to Haim Pearlman, who is suspected of stabbing four Arabs to death and seven other counts of attempted murder.

Aharon and Rivka Sitbon, who live in France, arrived Thursday for a vacation in Israel and were arrested at passport control. Their son, Michael, was arrested simultaneously at his mother-in-law's Mevaseret Zion home.

Rachel, David Sitbon's wife, told Ynet, "It is something unbelievable, true madness. These are sensitive people, close to 70, who were arrested only to place pressure on my husband. They (the police and the Shin Bet) lost in court and are left with only a few hours left with him in their custody. They want to use them to the very last minute in order to incriminate him. This shows they don't have any evidence. It's all a false charge."

'Nothing more cynical'

Sitbon's associates said in a conversation with Ynet, "The Shin Bet deteriorated to a moral low point as of yet unknown."

"They came to visit their son. The father had a series of cardiac incidents; the mother is half out of her senses. There is nothing more cynical that taking a couple of poor parents and exploiting them, playing with the son's conscience to make him confess. It is very sad that this is what democracy looks like in 2010," one of Sitbon's associates said.

Attorney Uri Keinan, who is representing Sitbon's parents, also claimed that their arrest is meant to put illegitimate pressure on Sitbon, who is slated to meet his legal counsel, Attorney Ariel Atari, for the first time on Friday following a Supreme Court ruling.

Justice Edmond Levy ruled that Sitbon's continued disconnect from the world is unjustified.

"His relatively small part in the investigated affair, the manner in which he behaved in his interrogations, the planned investigative moves – in none of these could I find just cause for preventing a meeting (between Sitbon and his lawyer)," said Justice Levy.

Kobi Nahshoni and Aviel Magnezi contributed to this report