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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Alleged killer Teitel: No doubt God pleased with me |
| 2009-11-13 |
| [Ma'an] Ma'an/Agencies - An Israeli settler charged with a string of murders and assaults told prosecutors in Jerusalem on Thursday that he regrets nothing. "It was a pleasure and an honor to serve my God," said defendant Yaakov Teitel, according to the Israeli daily Haaretz. "I have no regret and no doubt that God is pleased." Dubbed the "Jewish terrorist" by Israeli media, the 37-year-old was charged with two murders, three attempted murders using poison and bombs, and other violent acts spanning a decade. Israeli police arrested the settler last month for the killings, which included two Palestinians. An immigrant from the US, Teitel was arrested in Jerusalem on 7 October. He allegedly confessed to authorities to shooting to death Palestinian shepherd Issa Jibril south of Hebron in 1997 and killing an East Jerusalem taxi driver the same year. After killing Jibril, according to police, Teitel told authorities he came to the country with the specific aim of killing Palestinians in revenge for suicide bombings. During a search of his home, police discovered rifles, handguns and explosive materials; they were unable, however, to find the gun which he allegedly used to kill the Palestinians. But according to his indictment on Thursday, the settler smuggled a disassembled firearm into Israel from the US in 1997 by placing it in a video player before using it to murder a Palestinian taxi driver the same year. Teitel, a resident of the northern West Bank settlement of Shvut Rachel, near Nablus, was born in the US state of Florida and began travelling to Israel and the West Bank in the 1990s before immigrating to Israel in 2000. He became involved in the "Hilltop Youth" subculture of the Israeli settler movement, which called for radical grassroots mobilization. Teitel is also suspected to have carried out a series of bomb attacks, including one that seriously wounded a teenager from a Messianic Jewish family in the settlement of Ariel, and another that lightly wounded liberal Hebrew University historian Zeev Sternhell. He also allegedly responsible for a blast that damaged a police car at the time of a gay pride parade. Teitel even claimed during his questioning to involvement in the attack on a gay-lesbian youth club in Tel Aviv in August, in which two people were killed. Israeli security officials said however that there is not sufficient evidence to link him to the shooting. He was also not charged with shooting dead two settler policemen in the Jordan Valley eight months earlier. The shooting led to settler activists rallying against Palestinians and demanding more checkpoints, but Israeli police later determined those killings, too, were likely Teitel's doing. It was not clear why, but Israel's Shin Bet intelligence agency had prevented the defendant from attending his own hearings since his initial arrest. According to Teitel's lawyer, they have also kept him chained to a bed 24 hours a day. Teitel's family said they were not particularly surprised by what they heard on Thursday. "What else can be said today? We are sad. We are talking about a fool. We didn't think for a moment that the Shin Bet was making this up. We knew an indictment would be filed and we were not surprised by the charges," said the defendant's brother in law, according to the Hebrew-language newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 Here we see a key difference between Israel and Gaza/West Bank: Israel is a nation of laws. This man killed innocent Palestinians. He is being prosecuted by Israel and may spend the rest of his life in jail. In Gaza/West Bank, a Palestinian who killed Jews (and survived), would not only not be prosecuted, he would be hailed as a hero. |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2009-11-13 18:58 |
| #2 Terrorist, serial killer, all around evil man. A pity Israel does not have a judicial death penalty for something like Mr. Teitel. However, life in solitary with only his god to keep him company will certainly do. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-11-13 14:21 |
| #1 (Islam) "HOW DARE YOU USE OUR TACTICS? WE GOTTA MAKE AN EXAMPLE OF THIS (Ummm, can we say "Terrorist?)JEW. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2009-11-13 12:22 |