John Bacon

USA TODAY

The grandson of controversial Israeli-American activist Meir Kahane will be freed from an Israeli prison June 1 after being detained for almost a year without charges, an Israeli court ruled Tuesday.

The Israel Security Agency declined to seek a detention extension for right-wing Jewish extremist Meir Ettinger, who was arrested in August 2015 as part of an investigation into the deadly firebombing of a Palestinian home. The blast, which killed a couple and their 18-month-old son, sparked outrage around the world.

Two people have since been charged in connection with the firebombing. Ettinger, 24, was never charged, but he was held on grounds that he represented a serious security risk. The security agency, also known as Shin Bet, accused him of leading a band of young people suspected in a string of hate crimes targeting Palestinians and Christians.

The security agency said Ettinger remains a risk to public safety. But the agency cited the balance between the threat he poses and the severity of continuing to hold him without formal charges, Israeli media reported.

The agency said Ettinger will face restrictions it did not detail that could be eased or intensified, depending on Ettinger's behavior, the Times of Israel said.

Ettinger's lawyers claim he has spent most of his prison time in solitary confinement amid concerns he was influencing other inmates. He also has been victimized by harsh interrogation techniques, the lawyers said.

Ettinger's grandfather, Brooklyn-born Meir Kahane, founded the Jewish Defense League in New York in 1968. He later became a member of — and then was expelled from — Israel's Knesset, or parliament. He was a radical figure known for encouraging violence against Israel's enemies and lobbying to expel Arabs from Israel.

In 1990, Kahane had just given a speech warning of a second holocaust in the United States when he was assassinated by an Arab gunman.