Tuesday, November 03, 2009

A Jewish terrorist

The arrest of a Jewish terrorist received headline news in Israel on Monday. Ya'acov (Jack) Teitel (37), an American Immigrant who lives in a settlement on the West Bank was arrested by a special anti-terrorism unit of the Israeli police and the Shin-Bet. He is accused of two murders of Palestinians and setting explosions that injured left-wing Israeli Prof. Ze'ev Sternhall, as well as the son of a family of American Jews for Jesus.
The police say that he was exceptionally cautious and used gloves in all his activities as well as keeping his actions secret from his family and friends. He was caught putting up anti-gay posters in Jerusalem, supporting the explosion at the gay center in Tel Aviv that killed two young people. Although this is not illegal, he was taken in for questioning on suspicion of setting several anti-gay bombs that did not go off. The police investigated his home and found a sealed room where he prepared his explosives. It seems that his father was a dentist who worked for the military and he learnt the use of explosives while living on Army bases.
The question arises, why did it take 12 years from his first alleged violent act to find him. After teh shootings of the Palestinians he had returned to the US for three years and lived in Florida. On his return to Israel he managed to sneak a dismantled gun thru El Al security, as well as several rifles sent in a package by mail. He was detained at least once by the police but released then for lack of evidence. Nevertheless he was able to continue with his activities for several more years.
There is no evidence that he was a member of a right wing group, rather that he worked very much alone. The police say that he has extreme fringe views. But, they also admit that there could be others like him active within Israeli society. However, note the difference, the coverage given to one Jewish terrorist, compared to the tens of thousands of terrorists active in Palestinian society. We arrest ours, they support theirs.
In a separate development the Israeli police have solved the terrible murder of a family of six in Rishon Letzion. The murderer was a former employee in their family restaurant who was fired two years ago. He decided to get even with the boss, and ended up stabbing to death the whole family. He was caught because he left items of clothing in the apartment that he set on fire, but there was enough to give a DNA profile. He escaped to Eilat but was caught there. Now he, his wife and his parents who have all been implicated in the plot, are under arrest.

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