Tytell appeals conviction and two life sentences for murdering two Palestinians, assortment of other crimes.
Jewish terrorist Jack Tytell on Tuesday appealed his conviction and his two life sentences for murdering two Palestinians to the Supreme Court.
On April 9, the Jerusalem District Court sentenced Tytell to two life sentences and an additional 30 years in prison for the murder of two Palestinians and an assortment of other crimes.
Just before the sentence was handed down, Tytell said he had no regrets and was proud of what he had done.
Although he was only formally sentenced in April he was convicted on January 16.
Despite his claim that an “angel” had controlled him, the court, explaining its verdict, found that Tytell was not insane and was thus “responsible for his actions,” which paved the way for the double life sentence.
The court also ordered him to pay NIS 180,000 to the family of each murder victim and NIS 150,000 to each attempted murder victim.
In its ruling, the court stated, “Our roots command: ‘Do not kill’ – but the accused shut his ears and his eyes, killed and tried to kill in cold blood...
there was no foreseeable threat of a weapon or anything to fear from [the victims].”
The state prosecutor for the case, Sagi Ophir, said he hoped the ruling would “send a message” that would “efficiently deter anyone who will perpetrate terror or participate or aid in terror.”
Tytell’s lawyer, Asher Ohayon, had previously told The Jerusalem Post that they intended “100 percent” to appeal to the Supreme Court – “not 60%, not 70%” – and that they intended to appeal “both the conviction and the sentence,” commitments he made good on Tuesday.
Last May, the court accepted an unusual plea bargain between the district attorney and lawyers representing Tytell, and determined that the defendant had murdered two Palestinians and committed other violent crimes from 1997-2008.
Judges Zvi Segal, Moshe Hacohen and Moshe Yair Drori said the court had determined that Tytell had committed the acts attributed to him in an amended indictment.
That indictment includes 10 of the original 14 charges against the defendant – including two murders and two attempted murders – as the prosecution agreed to remove charges relating to attempted attacks that authorities succeeded in foiling, as well as general language describing Tytell’s hatred for those who disagreed with or were different from him as the motivating factor behind his crimes.
The court did not formally convict Tytell until it had carefully reviewed whether he could be held criminally responsible for his offenses.
Although he agreed to confess to the charges, Tytell refused to physically plead guilty in court when he was convicted, because he claimed he did not recognize the court’s authority.
Instead, in a highly unusual procedure that required special court approval, Ohayon – with Tytell present in the courtroom but refusing to take part – submitted an admission to the charges in the amended indictment on his client’s behalf.
Courts normally require that defendants confessing to crimes do so in-person in order to safeguard their rights and ensure that they have not been coerced into admission or confused about any element of their confession.
The Florida-born Tytell, 39, was originally indicted in 2009.
He is charged with the 1997 murder of Palestinian taxi driver Samir Balbisi, who was found shot dead in his cab.
According to the indictment, around May 1997, when Tytell was still in the US, he had made up his mind to murder Palestinians and came to Israel for that purpose, smuggling a gun into the country by hiding it in a VCR.
He spent his first weeks in Israel with friends in Jerusalem. He managed to acquire bullets for his smuggled gun and began seeking out a suitable victim.
The indictment states that he chose to murder an Arab taxi driver because he thought he could ask the driver first to drive him to a suitable spot.
On June 8, 1997, he went to the Arab taxi stand at Damascus Gate in Jerusalem, the indictment says, where he hired Balbisi and asked him to drive him to a hotel. After driving for a while, Tytell told Balbisi to stop and wait, then proceeded to shoot the Palestinian man in the head at point-blank range.
The indictment also charges Tytell with the murder of a second Palestinian man, Beduin shepherd Isaa Mousa’af Mahamada, who was shot dead near the West Bank settlement of Carmel, near Hebron, in August 1997.
In 2000, Tytell made aliya and lived in Shvut Rahel, a West Bank settlement north of Jerusalem, where he married and had four children.
That year, police arrested him on suspicion of carrying out both of the 1997 murders, but later released him due to lack of evidence.
In March 2008, according to the indictment, he attempted to murder 15-year-old Amiel Ortiz, a Messianic Jewish teen from Ariel.
Tytell sent a bomb in a Purim gift basket to Ortiz’s home, which exploded when the youth opened it.
Other charges included planting homemade explosives in September 2008 at the home of Prof. Ze’ev Sternhell, a left-wing scholar from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Tytell also attempted to murder a resident of the Beit Jamal monastery near Beit Shemesh because he believed its inhabitants were missionaries who tried to convert Jewish children.
In 2006 he attacked a police station during a gay pride parade.
Following his arrest in 2009, he was remanded in custody in a secure psychiatric facility, and though an initial psychiatric assessment in 2010 deemed him unfit to stand trial, later tests showed that he was able to face prosecution.
Tytell’s lawyers had previously argued that their client had not known right from wrong when he committed the acts and that therefore, the court could not impose a prison term.
The prosecution successfully argued that Tytell was responsible for his actions when committing the crimes, despite the defense that an “angel” had controlled his actions and at least one expert saying that Tytell was insane.
The court accepted an opposing expert opinion that said, regardless of whether Tytell may have had episodes of insanity during his trial and imprisonment, if he had been insane years earlier when he committed the crimes, he would have deteriorated to a far worse state in the subsequent years.
Based on the above, and the rational manner in which Tytell gave statements to police when arrested, the court agreed with the expert that any episodes of insanity came after the crimes and during imprisonment.
Jewish terrorist Jack Tytell on Tuesday appealed his conviction and his two life sentences for murdering two Palestinians to the Supreme Court.
On April 9, the Jerusalem District Court sentenced Tytell to two life sentences and an additional 30 years in prison for the murder of two Palestinians and an assortment of other crimes.
Just before the sentence was handed down, Tytell said he had no regrets and was proud of what he had done.
Although he was only formally sentenced in April he was convicted on January 16.
Despite his claim that an “angel” had controlled him, the court, explaining its verdict, found that Tytell was not insane and was thus “responsible for his actions,” which paved the way for the double life sentence.
The court also ordered him to pay NIS 180,000 to the family of each murder victim and NIS 150,000 to each attempted murder victim.
In its ruling, the court stated, “Our roots command: ‘Do not kill’ – but the accused shut his ears and his eyes, killed and tried to kill in cold blood...
there was no foreseeable threat of a weapon or anything to fear from [the victims].”
The state prosecutor for the case, Sagi Ophir, said he hoped the ruling would “send a message” that would “efficiently deter anyone who will perpetrate terror or participate or aid in terror.”
Tytell’s lawyer, Asher Ohayon, had previously told The Jerusalem Post that they intended “100 percent” to appeal to the Supreme Court – “not 60%, not 70%” – and that they intended to appeal “both the conviction and the sentence,” commitments he made good on Tuesday.
Last May, the court accepted an unusual plea bargain between the district attorney and lawyers representing Tytell, and determined that the defendant had murdered two Palestinians and committed other violent crimes from 1997-2008.
Judges Zvi Segal, Moshe Hacohen and Moshe Yair Drori said the court had determined that Tytell had committed the acts attributed to him in an amended indictment.
That indictment includes 10 of the original 14 charges against the defendant – including two murders and two attempted murders – as the prosecution agreed to remove charges relating to attempted attacks that authorities succeeded in foiling, as well as general language describing Tytell’s hatred for those who disagreed with or were different from him as the motivating factor behind his crimes.
The court did not formally convict Tytell until it had carefully reviewed whether he could be held criminally responsible for his offenses.
Although he agreed to confess to the charges, Tytell refused to physically plead guilty in court when he was convicted, because he claimed he did not recognize the court’s authority.
Instead, in a highly unusual procedure that required special court approval, Ohayon – with Tytell present in the courtroom but refusing to take part – submitted an admission to the charges in the amended indictment on his client’s behalf.
Courts normally require that defendants confessing to crimes do so in-person in order to safeguard their rights and ensure that they have not been coerced into admission or confused about any element of their confession.
The Florida-born Tytell, 39, was originally indicted in 2009.
He is charged with the 1997 murder of Palestinian taxi driver Samir Balbisi, who was found shot dead in his cab.
According to the indictment, around May 1997, when Tytell was still in the US, he had made up his mind to murder Palestinians and came to Israel for that purpose, smuggling a gun into the country by hiding it in a VCR.
He spent his first weeks in Israel with friends in Jerusalem. He managed to acquire bullets for his smuggled gun and began seeking out a suitable victim.
The indictment states that he chose to murder an Arab taxi driver because he thought he could ask the driver first to drive him to a suitable spot.
On June 8, 1997, he went to the Arab taxi stand at Damascus Gate in Jerusalem, the indictment says, where he hired Balbisi and asked him to drive him to a hotel. After driving for a while, Tytell told Balbisi to stop and wait, then proceeded to shoot the Palestinian man in the head at point-blank range.
The indictment also charges Tytell with the murder of a second Palestinian man, Beduin shepherd Isaa Mousa’af Mahamada, who was shot dead near the West Bank settlement of Carmel, near Hebron, in August 1997.
In 2000, Tytell made aliya and lived in Shvut Rahel, a West Bank settlement north of Jerusalem, where he married and had four children.
That year, police arrested him on suspicion of carrying out both of the 1997 murders, but later released him due to lack of evidence.
In March 2008, according to the indictment, he attempted to murder 15-year-old Amiel Ortiz, a Messianic Jewish teen from Ariel.
Tytell sent a bomb in a Purim gift basket to Ortiz’s home, which exploded when the youth opened it.
Other charges included planting homemade explosives in September 2008 at the home of Prof. Ze’ev Sternhell, a left-wing scholar from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Tytell also attempted to murder a resident of the Beit Jamal monastery near Beit Shemesh because he believed its inhabitants were missionaries who tried to convert Jewish children.
In 2006 he attacked a police station during a gay pride parade.
Following his arrest in 2009, he was remanded in custody in a secure psychiatric facility, and though an initial psychiatric assessment in 2010 deemed him unfit to stand trial, later tests showed that he was able to face prosecution.
Tytell’s lawyers had previously argued that their client had not known right from wrong when he committed the acts and that therefore, the court could not impose a prison term.
The prosecution successfully argued that Tytell was responsible for his actions when committing the crimes, despite the defense that an “angel” had controlled his actions and at least one expert saying that Tytell was insane.
The court accepted an opposing expert opinion that said, regardless of whether Tytell may have had episodes of insanity during his trial and imprisonment, if he had been insane years earlier when he committed the crimes, he would have deteriorated to a far worse state in the subsequent years.
Based on the above, and the rational manner in which Tytell gave statements to police when arrested, the court agreed with the expert that any episodes of insanity came after the crimes and during imprisonment.
9 apr 2013
Tytell, an American citizen, was convicted in the murder of two Palestinians in 1997 and two attempted murders, assault and other charges; gets additional 30 years and mandatory compensation of NIS 650,000 to the families of the victims.
The Jerusalem District Court sentenced Jewish terrorist Yaakov (Jack) Tytell on Tuesday to two life terms and 30 years in prison, after he was convicted in January on two counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder, and one count of assault. In addition to the prison sentence, Tytell was ordered to pay NIS 360 thousand in compensation to the families of his murder victims and NIS 320 thousand to his other victims.
Tytell was convicted of murderring two Palestinians in 1997, two attempted murders, assault with intent, illegal manufacturing and possession of firearms, and incitement of violence and terrorism between the years 1997 and 2008.
"It was proved before us that hatred and frustration furnished the accused as he committed his crimes, while sacred principles were trampled into dust under his feet." Judges Tzvi Segal, Moshe Drori, and Moshe Yoad Hacohen wrote in their verdict. "Jewish tradition prescribes 'Thou shalt not kill', but the accused closed his ears and eyes, murdered and tried to murder in cold blood."
After receiving two contradicting psychiatric evaluations, the court determined a year ago that Tytell was fit to go on trial for murder. The court said Tytell is intelligent and is aware and therefore fit to stand on trial, regardless of his refusal to recognize the court's authority.
Since the trial began, Tytell claimed he was insane and so unfit to go on trial, while he himself acted as such.
Tytell, a Jewish American, is a resident of the West Bank settlement Shvut Rachel. He was arrested in 2009 on the suspicion that he was responsible for the murder of two Palestinians.
Tytell was charged in November 2010 with murdering two Palestinians and attempting to murder more, including Hebrew University Professor Zeev Sternhell and Ariel teenager Ami Ortiz. Ortiz, a member of a family of Messianic Jews, was gravely wounded by a bomb packaged inside a Purim gift in March 2008.
Tytell admitted to planting the bomb at the time of his arrest, calling the Ortiz family "missionaries trying to capture weak Jews."
The Jerusalem District Court sentenced Jewish terrorist Yaakov (Jack) Tytell on Tuesday to two life terms and 30 years in prison, after he was convicted in January on two counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder, and one count of assault. In addition to the prison sentence, Tytell was ordered to pay NIS 360 thousand in compensation to the families of his murder victims and NIS 320 thousand to his other victims.
Tytell was convicted of murderring two Palestinians in 1997, two attempted murders, assault with intent, illegal manufacturing and possession of firearms, and incitement of violence and terrorism between the years 1997 and 2008.
"It was proved before us that hatred and frustration furnished the accused as he committed his crimes, while sacred principles were trampled into dust under his feet." Judges Tzvi Segal, Moshe Drori, and Moshe Yoad Hacohen wrote in their verdict. "Jewish tradition prescribes 'Thou shalt not kill', but the accused closed his ears and eyes, murdered and tried to murder in cold blood."
After receiving two contradicting psychiatric evaluations, the court determined a year ago that Tytell was fit to go on trial for murder. The court said Tytell is intelligent and is aware and therefore fit to stand on trial, regardless of his refusal to recognize the court's authority.
Since the trial began, Tytell claimed he was insane and so unfit to go on trial, while he himself acted as such.
Tytell, a Jewish American, is a resident of the West Bank settlement Shvut Rachel. He was arrested in 2009 on the suspicion that he was responsible for the murder of two Palestinians.
Tytell was charged in November 2010 with murdering two Palestinians and attempting to murder more, including Hebrew University Professor Zeev Sternhell and Ariel teenager Ami Ortiz. Ortiz, a member of a family of Messianic Jews, was gravely wounded by a bomb packaged inside a Purim gift in March 2008.
Tytell admitted to planting the bomb at the time of his arrest, calling the Ortiz family "missionaries trying to capture weak Jews."
12 jan 2010
FBI and Shin Bet began tracking 'Jewish terrorist' year before arrest
Teitel refuses to cooperate with his attorney, saying he does not recognize court's authority.
A year prior to Yakov "Jack" Teitel's arrest, the Shin Bet and the FBI were in close contact as part of an investigation into bombings targeting homosexuals, messianic Christians and left-wing figures, Haaretz has learned.
Teitel was arrested on October 7. However, the initial exchanges on the case between the two security services on the case began in October 2008, when a Shin Bet officer, code-named Ariel, contacted the FBI with a request for assistance in the investigation. Eventually, the authorities would come to suspect Teitel as the person behind the bombings.
Meanwhile, deliberations were held at the Jerusalem District Court Monday on Teitel's case. Teitel has refused to cooperate with his attorney, saying he does not recognize the court's authority and Monday it appointed two new defense lawyers, who are to respond to the charges against Teitel by next month.
The Shin Bet and the police were building a profile of the bomber as avenues of investigation had reached a dead end. One of the conclusions in the investigation was that the bomber probably was an American, which led to the cooperation with the FBI.
The Israeli authorities considered translating the pamphlets on how to make explosive devices the bomber had made for dissemination to other intelligence services in the hope of possibly finding a link through their data bases.
Haaretz has learned that in May 2009, two FBI agents visited Israel to assist in the Teitel case. The Shin Bet investigators were becoming increasingly convinced Teitel was the prime suspect. The FBI agents shared the information they had on Teitel's activities in the U.S.; he had a police record.
Teitel himself told the Shin Bet that in 2000, he fought with his landlord, who threw him out of the apartment. As he fled, Teitel used his car to hit the landlord's dog, and he reportedly carried an unlicensed pistol, fearing trouble with the police. He then fled to Israel.
The FBI played a two-fold role. It had information on Teitel but also probed cases involving Americans who have been targets of terrorism. The FBI began investigating such instances in the 1980s with the help of local authorities, and its office in Tel Aviv covers incidents in Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The head of the office met with Lea and David Ortiz, whose son Amiel was badly injured in a Purim package bomb believed to have been sent by Teitel in March 2008.
FBI and Shin Bet began tracking 'Jewish terrorist' year before arrest
Teitel refuses to cooperate with his attorney, saying he does not recognize court's authority.
A year prior to Yakov "Jack" Teitel's arrest, the Shin Bet and the FBI were in close contact as part of an investigation into bombings targeting homosexuals, messianic Christians and left-wing figures, Haaretz has learned.
Teitel was arrested on October 7. However, the initial exchanges on the case between the two security services on the case began in October 2008, when a Shin Bet officer, code-named Ariel, contacted the FBI with a request for assistance in the investigation. Eventually, the authorities would come to suspect Teitel as the person behind the bombings.
Meanwhile, deliberations were held at the Jerusalem District Court Monday on Teitel's case. Teitel has refused to cooperate with his attorney, saying he does not recognize the court's authority and Monday it appointed two new defense lawyers, who are to respond to the charges against Teitel by next month.
The Shin Bet and the police were building a profile of the bomber as avenues of investigation had reached a dead end. One of the conclusions in the investigation was that the bomber probably was an American, which led to the cooperation with the FBI.
The Israeli authorities considered translating the pamphlets on how to make explosive devices the bomber had made for dissemination to other intelligence services in the hope of possibly finding a link through their data bases.
Haaretz has learned that in May 2009, two FBI agents visited Israel to assist in the Teitel case. The Shin Bet investigators were becoming increasingly convinced Teitel was the prime suspect. The FBI agents shared the information they had on Teitel's activities in the U.S.; he had a police record.
Teitel himself told the Shin Bet that in 2000, he fought with his landlord, who threw him out of the apartment. As he fled, Teitel used his car to hit the landlord's dog, and he reportedly carried an unlicensed pistol, fearing trouble with the police. He then fled to Israel.
The FBI played a two-fold role. It had information on Teitel but also probed cases involving Americans who have been targets of terrorism. The FBI began investigating such instances in the 1980s with the help of local authorities, and its office in Tel Aviv covers incidents in Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The head of the office met with Lea and David Ortiz, whose son Amiel was badly injured in a Purim package bomb believed to have been sent by Teitel in March 2008.
31 dec 2009
Police suspected 'Jewish terrorist' 10 years ago
Extremist settler Yaakov (Jack) Teitel is supected of multiple murders and a string of alleged murder attempts.
The police had strong indications that Yaakov (Jack) Teitel murdered Issa Mahamra as far back as 1999. However, his interrogation by the police and the Shin Bet security service did not result in charges being brought against him, and he was released.
Mahamra was killed in 1997, near Carmel. In July 1999, a highly classified police intelligence document analyzed the evidence in the force's possession that tied Teitel to the murder.
"There are indications of Teitel's involvement in the murderous attack on the Arab," it said. "His alibi is not precise regarding the time at which he arrived at Sasya. Signs of firing were found in the Fiat Punto which he hired. The time of his departure from the country, before the originally planned date. A difference of 200 kilometers on the car [odometer], which he could not explain. He purchased a weapon before the attack - for which he has no explanation."
A turning point in the investigation occurred when Yaakov Rau, a young man from Yitzhar who served as a police informant and who had been arrested with Teitel in the past for trying to sell a stolen credit card, told police that immediately after the incident in Carmel, Teitel told him he had committed the murder.
Another document dating from October 1997 - two months after the murder - said that "in view of the fact that Jack Teitel rented a three-door Fiat Punto, color white, on the day of the murder and returned the car a day after the murder; [that] he was found at the scene of the murder a day after the murder; [that] he lied to the Eldan rental company about his address; [that] he provided a false alibi on where he was at the time of the murder; and [that] he bought a one-way ticket to the U.S., attention should be given to this."
Teitel was arrested again when he returned to Israel in 2000 and was interrogated by the Shin Bet on the basis of Rau's information. The police believed there was enough evidence to charge him, but Moshe Lador - then Jerusalem district attorney and today state prosecutor - demanded further investigation. However, Lador added, Teitel should not be released.
A lie detector test eventually found that Teitel was telling the truth. He later told the Shin Bet that he managed to beat the lie detector by holding his breath and flexing his buttocks during questioning.
As reported in Haaretz last month, Teitel was also suspected of carrying out an attack in the Jordan Valley in March in which two traffic cops were murdered. It is not known what information the police found to suggest that Teitel was behind that killing, but he was questioned about the matter repeatedly. However, he did not confess.
During one interrogation, he said that his home in Shvut Rachel lies only six kilometers from the road where the two were killed, but he has no information on the attack. On another occasion, he said that shooting the policemen would have been more his style than the shooting attack at the gay youth club in Tel Aviv, but he did not do it.
Police suspected 'Jewish terrorist' 10 years ago
Extremist settler Yaakov (Jack) Teitel is supected of multiple murders and a string of alleged murder attempts.
The police had strong indications that Yaakov (Jack) Teitel murdered Issa Mahamra as far back as 1999. However, his interrogation by the police and the Shin Bet security service did not result in charges being brought against him, and he was released.
Mahamra was killed in 1997, near Carmel. In July 1999, a highly classified police intelligence document analyzed the evidence in the force's possession that tied Teitel to the murder.
"There are indications of Teitel's involvement in the murderous attack on the Arab," it said. "His alibi is not precise regarding the time at which he arrived at Sasya. Signs of firing were found in the Fiat Punto which he hired. The time of his departure from the country, before the originally planned date. A difference of 200 kilometers on the car [odometer], which he could not explain. He purchased a weapon before the attack - for which he has no explanation."
A turning point in the investigation occurred when Yaakov Rau, a young man from Yitzhar who served as a police informant and who had been arrested with Teitel in the past for trying to sell a stolen credit card, told police that immediately after the incident in Carmel, Teitel told him he had committed the murder.
Another document dating from October 1997 - two months after the murder - said that "in view of the fact that Jack Teitel rented a three-door Fiat Punto, color white, on the day of the murder and returned the car a day after the murder; [that] he was found at the scene of the murder a day after the murder; [that] he lied to the Eldan rental company about his address; [that] he provided a false alibi on where he was at the time of the murder; and [that] he bought a one-way ticket to the U.S., attention should be given to this."
Teitel was arrested again when he returned to Israel in 2000 and was interrogated by the Shin Bet on the basis of Rau's information. The police believed there was enough evidence to charge him, but Moshe Lador - then Jerusalem district attorney and today state prosecutor - demanded further investigation. However, Lador added, Teitel should not be released.
A lie detector test eventually found that Teitel was telling the truth. He later told the Shin Bet that he managed to beat the lie detector by holding his breath and flexing his buttocks during questioning.
As reported in Haaretz last month, Teitel was also suspected of carrying out an attack in the Jordan Valley in March in which two traffic cops were murdered. It is not known what information the police found to suggest that Teitel was behind that killing, but he was questioned about the matter repeatedly. However, he did not confess.
During one interrogation, he said that his home in Shvut Rachel lies only six kilometers from the road where the two were killed, but he has no information on the attack. On another occasion, he said that shooting the policemen would have been more his style than the shooting attack at the gay youth club in Tel Aviv, but he did not do it.
4 nov 2009
'Jewish terrorist' suspected in murder blamed on Palestinians
Police suspect Yaakov Teitel murdered two traffic officers - a crime originally attributed to Palestinian terrorists.
Police suspect that Yaakov (Jack) Teitel, who has confessed to murdering two Palestinians and carrying out a long list of other, less deadly, terror attacks, also murdered two traffic policemen in the Jordan Valley eight months ago - a crime originally attributed to Palestinian terrorists.
Haaretz reported on Tuesday that police suspected Teitel of other murders in addition to those of the two Palestinians, but at the time, a gag order was still in place that prevented specifying which murders.
The policemen, Warrant Officer David Rabinowitz and Senior Warrant Officer Yehezkel Ramzarkar, were shot while sitting in their patrol vehicle near Moshav Massua. The subsequent investigation indicated that the assailant had lain in wait at the turn-off from the main road to Massua and did something to make them stop and roll down their window. He then shot them from point-blank range. No damage was done to the vehicle, and nothing was taken from it.
Teitel denied responsibility for these murders, and it not clear what evidence the police have against him. But a police source said yesterday that Teitel's modus operandi in the crimes he has admitted to "precisely matches" that of the policemen's murder.
The police and the Shin Bet security service have long assumed that the policemen's killer acted alone, and not as part of an organization, making it difficult to get information about the crime. And while the police considered the possibility that the murder was criminal rather than the work of terrorists, three different lines of inquiry had drawn blanks, leaving investigators utterly in the dark.
Teitel has confessed to carrying out other attacks on policemen in retaliation for the police protection granted the Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem in 2006: He planted an improvised explosive device in a police station in the settlement of Eli and also blew up bombs near two police patrol cars in Jerusalem.
A psychiatrist examined Teitel on Tuesday and pronounced him sane. However, the evaluation found that he did have schizoid traits - extreme disinterest in social ties, coldness and solitariness. He will be examined by another psychiatrist tomorrow, this time one hired by the defense rather than the state.
Also Tuesday, the Shin Bet detained Yosef Espinoza, 51, on suspicion of involvement in Teitel's crimes. Espinoza, like Teitel, is an American immigrant who lives in the settlement of Shvut Rachel, and he is known as Teitel's best friend.
However, it is not yet clear what exactly Espinoza is suspected of: He has already been arrested once, 10 days ago, and then released.
'Jewish terrorist' suspected in murder blamed on Palestinians
Police suspect Yaakov Teitel murdered two traffic officers - a crime originally attributed to Palestinian terrorists.
Police suspect that Yaakov (Jack) Teitel, who has confessed to murdering two Palestinians and carrying out a long list of other, less deadly, terror attacks, also murdered two traffic policemen in the Jordan Valley eight months ago - a crime originally attributed to Palestinian terrorists.
Haaretz reported on Tuesday that police suspected Teitel of other murders in addition to those of the two Palestinians, but at the time, a gag order was still in place that prevented specifying which murders.
The policemen, Warrant Officer David Rabinowitz and Senior Warrant Officer Yehezkel Ramzarkar, were shot while sitting in their patrol vehicle near Moshav Massua. The subsequent investigation indicated that the assailant had lain in wait at the turn-off from the main road to Massua and did something to make them stop and roll down their window. He then shot them from point-blank range. No damage was done to the vehicle, and nothing was taken from it.
Teitel denied responsibility for these murders, and it not clear what evidence the police have against him. But a police source said yesterday that Teitel's modus operandi in the crimes he has admitted to "precisely matches" that of the policemen's murder.
The police and the Shin Bet security service have long assumed that the policemen's killer acted alone, and not as part of an organization, making it difficult to get information about the crime. And while the police considered the possibility that the murder was criminal rather than the work of terrorists, three different lines of inquiry had drawn blanks, leaving investigators utterly in the dark.
Teitel has confessed to carrying out other attacks on policemen in retaliation for the police protection granted the Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem in 2006: He planted an improvised explosive device in a police station in the settlement of Eli and also blew up bombs near two police patrol cars in Jerusalem.
A psychiatrist examined Teitel on Tuesday and pronounced him sane. However, the evaluation found that he did have schizoid traits - extreme disinterest in social ties, coldness and solitariness. He will be examined by another psychiatrist tomorrow, this time one hired by the defense rather than the state.
Also Tuesday, the Shin Bet detained Yosef Espinoza, 51, on suspicion of involvement in Teitel's crimes. Espinoza, like Teitel, is an American immigrant who lives in the settlement of Shvut Rachel, and he is known as Teitel's best friend.
However, it is not yet clear what exactly Espinoza is suspected of: He has already been arrested once, 10 days ago, and then released.
2 nov 2009
How Israel caught the suspected Jewish terrorist
After Yaakov Teitel was arrested in Jerusalem, armed police broke into his home and roused his family.
A sweeping gag order; an armed break-in at the suspect's home; the denial of legal representation to the suspect; and the interrogation of his wife - these are just a few of the measures the Shin Bet took against suspected Jewish terrorist Yaakov Teitel and his family.
Teitel, 36, a resident of the West Bank settlement of Shvut Rachel, was arrested three weeks ago on suspicion of murder and involvement in a string of murder plots. Immediately after his arrest in the ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Nof, a gag order was placed on every detail of the affair - which was violated by a writer and editor at the Walla Web site, who were themselves subsequently brought in for questioning.
The Shin Bet policy of a "heavy hand" was evident in the conditions of Teitel's detention, as well as in the behavior of investigators toward his family. As such, while Teitel was still being transported to an interrogation cell on October 8, the morning after his arrest, the security service's agents raided four separate apartments that the suspect had visited while he had been under surveillance.
At the same time, a separate Shin Bet squad positioned itself in front of the American-born suspect's home in Shvut Rachel. Police broke down the door, burst inside with handguns drawn and, according to relatives, roused the family's four children, who were sleeping at the time.
Furthermore, additional Shin Bet squads searched other homes in the settlement, including that of Moshe Avitan, Teitel's brother-in-law.
"[Shin Bet] intelligence was terrible and they didn't know that I am blind," Avitan told Haaretz on Sunday. "I am 100 percent disabled; they could have come to search my place in an orderly manner."
According to eyewitness testimonies, police used tracker dogs during a raid of apartments belonging to Teitel's parents and mother-in-law.
But by far the most drastic measure taken against the suspect - highly unusual when the detainee is Jewish - was the denial of his right to consult with a lawyer for more than two weeks.
The Shin Bet even enlisted Attorney General Menachem Mazuz into its investigative efforts, Haaretz has learned, when the security service sought to extend the suspect's remand without granting him legal consul. Only Mazuz was able to approve this move, according to the law, after ten days during which such consul has been denied.
The Shin Bet was particularly uncompromising in the security steps it took on the few occasions when Teitel was brought to the Petah Tikva District Court for a remand extension. Even though the courthouse had been searched by the security service's agents, cracks in the glass of the doors were completely blocked up; the vehicle in which Teitel was brought to court had shaded windows, and was accompanied by a convoy of undercover guards; and police detectives stood at the entrance to the courtroom to prevent curious onlookers from approaching.
Nonetheless, the move that was most heavily criticized by figures in the rightist camp was the arrest of Teitel's wife, Rivka, for questioning. While she was en route to a remand extension hearing for her husband, Shin Bet agents pulled her over. She was traveling with her baby daughter and a pair of friends at the time, with whom, relatives say, the agents told her to leave the child. They reportedly told Rivka Teitel to get into another car that would take her away for interrogation, which lasted for several hours and at the end of which she was released.
"They could have stopped her at home instead of all this drama with the baby in the car," a relative said. "They certainly know where she lives... all of her arrest and subsequent release - points to the fact that this was just a despicable investigative maneuver to pressure Yaakov in his questioning."
U.S.-born Jewish terrorist suspected of series of attacks over past 12 years
Despite finding weapons and explosives at Yaakov Tytell's home, police have yet to find accomplices.
The authorities have arrested a resident of the West Bank settlement of Shvut Rachel for suspected murder and a role in a string of murder plots, according to details of an investigation revealed Sunday after a gag order was lifted.
Yaakov (Jack) Tytell, who was arrested last month, is suspected of involvement in the murder of two Palestinians and the rigging of a bomb that seriously injured a boy from a Messianic Jewish family in Ariel. He was allegedly involved in two other bombings, which lightly injured Prof. Zeev Sternhell and a Palestinian. The police say Teitel has confessed to these acts.
Some of his actions were allegedly motivated by hatred for gays and lesbians; Tytell was also questioned about possible involvement in the murder of two people at a gay youth club in Tel Aviv last August. He initially claimed responsibility for those murders, but investigators say he did not commit them.
Tytell, 36, moved to Israel from the United States nine years ago. He and his wife Rivka, who married in Israel, have four children. The police detained Mrs. Tytell for questioning, but she exercised her right to remain silent.
Her husband had been involved in the past with the extreme right wing, but he says he carried out his attacks alone and no one else knew about them, according to investigators. The Shin Bet security service and police are still examining this claim, but have so far not discovered accomplices.
Police found many weapons and explosives at his home and another concealed location.
Tytell was arrested on October 7 in the ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Nof after posting signs around town praising the attack on the Tel Aviv gay center. He was apprehended in possession of a loaded gun.
He was remanded and interrogated for about three weeks without being allowed to see a lawyer, a step that was approved by various courts, including the High Court of Justice.
A native of Florida
Tytell was born in Florida and lived in Israel for extended periods in the 1990s. He came to Israel in 1997, he said, to take revenge on Palestinians for suicide attacks that decade. He told investigators that in 1997 he murdered a Palestinian taxi driver in East Jerusalem.
A few months later, he allegedly murdered another Palestinian near the settlement of Carmel in the South Hebron Hills. He said that in both murders he used a gun he had taken apart and smuggled aboard his British Airways flight to Israel.
Tytell said he hid the gun at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. Police searched the area with Tytell but did not find the gun. Shortly after the second murder, Tytell returned to the United States, where he remained for three years.
During that time, he had several run-ins with the law. When he returned to Israel he was questioned based on an intelligence tip by the Shin Bet and police on the Carmel murder; he denied involvement.
Despite his arrest, he obtained a gun license in Israel; he also had six rifles and three pistols, which he allegedly smuggled into Israel from the United States in a shipping container.
Police found the weapons buried in his yard in Shvut Rachel in what they said was "excellent" condition. One pistol was buried at the nearby outpost of Adei-Ad. Tytell reportedly said his main stockpile had been discovered and he had to go into hiding.
Tytell allegedly maintained a room in his home where he experimented with explosive charges. The police said he became proficient at making bombs. Tytell, however, has never served in the Israel Defense Forces or the U.S. military, as some media outlets had reported.
According to the Shin Bet, Tytell placed four improvised anti-personnel mines near the Arab Israeli town of Abu Ghosh near Jerusalem. They say in March 2003 he placed a bomb near the home of a Palestinian in the village of Sajur near Ramallah, and in 2004 placed bottles of poison-laced juice in a Palestinian village near the settlement of Eli. No one was injured in those cases.
Tytell reportedly told the police that in 1997 he stabbed an Arab in Jerusalem's Independence Park after he suspected that the man was offering him sex.
On November 2, 2006, Tytell allegedly embarked on a series of attacks to deter police from providing security for the Gay Pride Parade that was to be held in Jerusalem. He allegedly placed an improvised but potentially lethal explosive charge at the police station in Eli, which was found by a police sapper.
Tytell told the police that on April 20, 2007, he placed a bomb bear the monastery at Beit Jimal near Beit Shemesh, which injured a Palestinian tractor driver because he "heard that the monks there were enticing Jewish children with candy."
On May 15 that year he allegedly placed a bomb that exploded near a police car in Jerusalem, and a month later he set off another explosive charge near a patrol car in the capital. There were no injuries in those cases.
On March 20, 2008, Tytell allegedly put an explosive charge in Purim candy he placed near the home of the Ortiz family in Ariel. A 15-year-old boy was seriously injured in the attack. Tytell reportedly said the family were "missionaries who intended to entrap weak Jews."
On September 25, 2008, Tytell allegedly struck for the last time, with the bomb outside the front door of Sternhell's house.
The last two attacks brought the police closer to Tytell. They said the breakthrough came in March 2008 when a security camera outside the Ortiz home caught Tytell climbing the staircase and putting the explosive device down. Tytell apparently knew of the camera and covered his face, but the police were still able to identify him.
After the attack on Sternhell, the commander of the police's West Bank Central Unit, Chief Superintendent Eli Makmal, suspected links with other cases. The Shin Bet profiled the suspect as an American who hated various groups. DNA was also found at the scene of the attack on Sternhell. By the end of August this year the police suspected Tytell and began 24-hour surveillance.
A senior Shin Bet official said Sunday that although Tytell had been under surveillance, he was very careful about his activities, which made it hard to collect evidence against him. He did not commit any other attacks during the surveillance, the police say.
Yesha Council condemns attacks
"Acts of the kind allegedly committed by Yaakov Tytell are grave, prohibited and unacceptable. The security forces should be congratulated for discovering him," Danny Dayan, chairman of the Yesha Council of settlements, said Sunday.
"Any person of conscience in Israel must rise up in indignation against such acts, as well as against any despicable attempt to use them to gain political capital by blaming an entire community that is not connected - and is in fact vehemently opposed - to such actions," Dayan added.
Ne'emanei Torah Va'Avodah, a liberal religious-Zionist movement, said that it "condemns any kind of violence. There is no justification for these heinous acts in the Torah, which espouses kindness and peace. However, we ask that people avoid pointing fingers and casting blame on an entire community because of the acts of one person."
Said radical right-wing activist Itamar Ben Gvir: "I don't support violence, certainly not against Jews, but people like [Prof. Zeev] Sternhell need to take a good look at themselves. His statements and recommendations to Arabs to attack 'only' settlers constitute a provocation that has led to violence."
Settlements are fertile ground for Jewish terror
Had Teitel been satisfied with acts of murder against Palestinians, he would never have been caught.
The parade of the self-righteous got underway Sunday night: Yaakov Teitel was described as a "foreign element," "wild thorn" and "rotten apple." Even if he acted alone, spoke and hallucinated in English, even if he was mentally disturbed, as his attorney claimed, it does not change the fact that Jack the Ripper from the West Bank settlement of Shvut Rachel - contrary to his predecessor in London - acted on ground that was fertile like no other.
Yes, the settlements and especially the illegal outposts where Teitel lived and hid his weapons, along with the Kahanist settlement of Kfar Tapuah where he got his start - these are the places for such dangerous nuts. This is their refuge, where they can hide arms without being bothered and go on hate-filled killing sprees without being seen.
It is no coincidence that a terrorist or killer has never risen from within Peace Now, Gush Shalom or Yesh Gvul. However, with God's help, we have already seen two murderous terrorists from Shvut Rachel. Never has a leftist called for the death of someone who disagrees with him - and we must always remember this when we speak of left and right.
Yes, we must recoil from the entire group of settlers that again and again sprouts these cancerous growths. When a settlement is born out of sin, the sin of stolen land, the gun rests during the first act, the act of illegally confiscating the land. But you can count on there always being someone to pull the trigger in the final act.
Not everyone is a Teitel, and it's clear that not every settler is a killer. But no special investigative team was assembled when a different killing spree got underway several weeks ago, which left an olive grove razed. Teitel's fatal error was turning on other Jews. Had he been satisfied with acts of murder against the Palestinian population, he would never have been caught.
Teitel had an organized, all-embracing worldview: Death to Arabs, homosexuals, Christians, leftists, and Messianic Jews. They are all "Sodomites" who cannot be cleansed. Teitel set a price tag for everyone, just like others of his settler friends have also done. The difference is that the others only set price tags for Palestinians, so no one bothers to apprehend them. Teitel was "unbalanced" in exactly the same way as his companions. Speaking of which, has a Palestinian terrorist ever been declared "unbalanced"? Has the Shin Bet ever used the term "acted alone" to justify an uninterrupted, unsolved decade-long killing spree perpetrated by a lone Palestinian?
Now everyone will tsk-tsk. The settlers will claim "we had nothing to do with this," will roll their eyes skyward and be quick to voice harsh, and hollow, denunciations. The Shin Bet and police will wave a victory flag to show they don't bargain with settlers and the sleeping beauty of the left will continue to cloak herself in complacency. But there are more Teitels wandering around the land of occupation and negligence, and as long as they don't lay their hands on other Jews, no one will hold them accountable - and even that may change.
How Israel caught the suspected Jewish terrorist
After Yaakov Teitel was arrested in Jerusalem, armed police broke into his home and roused his family.
A sweeping gag order; an armed break-in at the suspect's home; the denial of legal representation to the suspect; and the interrogation of his wife - these are just a few of the measures the Shin Bet took against suspected Jewish terrorist Yaakov Teitel and his family.
Teitel, 36, a resident of the West Bank settlement of Shvut Rachel, was arrested three weeks ago on suspicion of murder and involvement in a string of murder plots. Immediately after his arrest in the ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Nof, a gag order was placed on every detail of the affair - which was violated by a writer and editor at the Walla Web site, who were themselves subsequently brought in for questioning.
The Shin Bet policy of a "heavy hand" was evident in the conditions of Teitel's detention, as well as in the behavior of investigators toward his family. As such, while Teitel was still being transported to an interrogation cell on October 8, the morning after his arrest, the security service's agents raided four separate apartments that the suspect had visited while he had been under surveillance.
At the same time, a separate Shin Bet squad positioned itself in front of the American-born suspect's home in Shvut Rachel. Police broke down the door, burst inside with handguns drawn and, according to relatives, roused the family's four children, who were sleeping at the time.
Furthermore, additional Shin Bet squads searched other homes in the settlement, including that of Moshe Avitan, Teitel's brother-in-law.
"[Shin Bet] intelligence was terrible and they didn't know that I am blind," Avitan told Haaretz on Sunday. "I am 100 percent disabled; they could have come to search my place in an orderly manner."
According to eyewitness testimonies, police used tracker dogs during a raid of apartments belonging to Teitel's parents and mother-in-law.
But by far the most drastic measure taken against the suspect - highly unusual when the detainee is Jewish - was the denial of his right to consult with a lawyer for more than two weeks.
The Shin Bet even enlisted Attorney General Menachem Mazuz into its investigative efforts, Haaretz has learned, when the security service sought to extend the suspect's remand without granting him legal consul. Only Mazuz was able to approve this move, according to the law, after ten days during which such consul has been denied.
The Shin Bet was particularly uncompromising in the security steps it took on the few occasions when Teitel was brought to the Petah Tikva District Court for a remand extension. Even though the courthouse had been searched by the security service's agents, cracks in the glass of the doors were completely blocked up; the vehicle in which Teitel was brought to court had shaded windows, and was accompanied by a convoy of undercover guards; and police detectives stood at the entrance to the courtroom to prevent curious onlookers from approaching.
Nonetheless, the move that was most heavily criticized by figures in the rightist camp was the arrest of Teitel's wife, Rivka, for questioning. While she was en route to a remand extension hearing for her husband, Shin Bet agents pulled her over. She was traveling with her baby daughter and a pair of friends at the time, with whom, relatives say, the agents told her to leave the child. They reportedly told Rivka Teitel to get into another car that would take her away for interrogation, which lasted for several hours and at the end of which she was released.
"They could have stopped her at home instead of all this drama with the baby in the car," a relative said. "They certainly know where she lives... all of her arrest and subsequent release - points to the fact that this was just a despicable investigative maneuver to pressure Yaakov in his questioning."
U.S.-born Jewish terrorist suspected of series of attacks over past 12 years
Despite finding weapons and explosives at Yaakov Tytell's home, police have yet to find accomplices.
The authorities have arrested a resident of the West Bank settlement of Shvut Rachel for suspected murder and a role in a string of murder plots, according to details of an investigation revealed Sunday after a gag order was lifted.
Yaakov (Jack) Tytell, who was arrested last month, is suspected of involvement in the murder of two Palestinians and the rigging of a bomb that seriously injured a boy from a Messianic Jewish family in Ariel. He was allegedly involved in two other bombings, which lightly injured Prof. Zeev Sternhell and a Palestinian. The police say Teitel has confessed to these acts.
Some of his actions were allegedly motivated by hatred for gays and lesbians; Tytell was also questioned about possible involvement in the murder of two people at a gay youth club in Tel Aviv last August. He initially claimed responsibility for those murders, but investigators say he did not commit them.
Tytell, 36, moved to Israel from the United States nine years ago. He and his wife Rivka, who married in Israel, have four children. The police detained Mrs. Tytell for questioning, but she exercised her right to remain silent.
Her husband had been involved in the past with the extreme right wing, but he says he carried out his attacks alone and no one else knew about them, according to investigators. The Shin Bet security service and police are still examining this claim, but have so far not discovered accomplices.
Police found many weapons and explosives at his home and another concealed location.
Tytell was arrested on October 7 in the ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Nof after posting signs around town praising the attack on the Tel Aviv gay center. He was apprehended in possession of a loaded gun.
He was remanded and interrogated for about three weeks without being allowed to see a lawyer, a step that was approved by various courts, including the High Court of Justice.
A native of Florida
Tytell was born in Florida and lived in Israel for extended periods in the 1990s. He came to Israel in 1997, he said, to take revenge on Palestinians for suicide attacks that decade. He told investigators that in 1997 he murdered a Palestinian taxi driver in East Jerusalem.
A few months later, he allegedly murdered another Palestinian near the settlement of Carmel in the South Hebron Hills. He said that in both murders he used a gun he had taken apart and smuggled aboard his British Airways flight to Israel.
Tytell said he hid the gun at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. Police searched the area with Tytell but did not find the gun. Shortly after the second murder, Tytell returned to the United States, where he remained for three years.
During that time, he had several run-ins with the law. When he returned to Israel he was questioned based on an intelligence tip by the Shin Bet and police on the Carmel murder; he denied involvement.
Despite his arrest, he obtained a gun license in Israel; he also had six rifles and three pistols, which he allegedly smuggled into Israel from the United States in a shipping container.
Police found the weapons buried in his yard in Shvut Rachel in what they said was "excellent" condition. One pistol was buried at the nearby outpost of Adei-Ad. Tytell reportedly said his main stockpile had been discovered and he had to go into hiding.
Tytell allegedly maintained a room in his home where he experimented with explosive charges. The police said he became proficient at making bombs. Tytell, however, has never served in the Israel Defense Forces or the U.S. military, as some media outlets had reported.
According to the Shin Bet, Tytell placed four improvised anti-personnel mines near the Arab Israeli town of Abu Ghosh near Jerusalem. They say in March 2003 he placed a bomb near the home of a Palestinian in the village of Sajur near Ramallah, and in 2004 placed bottles of poison-laced juice in a Palestinian village near the settlement of Eli. No one was injured in those cases.
Tytell reportedly told the police that in 1997 he stabbed an Arab in Jerusalem's Independence Park after he suspected that the man was offering him sex.
On November 2, 2006, Tytell allegedly embarked on a series of attacks to deter police from providing security for the Gay Pride Parade that was to be held in Jerusalem. He allegedly placed an improvised but potentially lethal explosive charge at the police station in Eli, which was found by a police sapper.
Tytell told the police that on April 20, 2007, he placed a bomb bear the monastery at Beit Jimal near Beit Shemesh, which injured a Palestinian tractor driver because he "heard that the monks there were enticing Jewish children with candy."
On May 15 that year he allegedly placed a bomb that exploded near a police car in Jerusalem, and a month later he set off another explosive charge near a patrol car in the capital. There were no injuries in those cases.
On March 20, 2008, Tytell allegedly put an explosive charge in Purim candy he placed near the home of the Ortiz family in Ariel. A 15-year-old boy was seriously injured in the attack. Tytell reportedly said the family were "missionaries who intended to entrap weak Jews."
On September 25, 2008, Tytell allegedly struck for the last time, with the bomb outside the front door of Sternhell's house.
The last two attacks brought the police closer to Tytell. They said the breakthrough came in March 2008 when a security camera outside the Ortiz home caught Tytell climbing the staircase and putting the explosive device down. Tytell apparently knew of the camera and covered his face, but the police were still able to identify him.
After the attack on Sternhell, the commander of the police's West Bank Central Unit, Chief Superintendent Eli Makmal, suspected links with other cases. The Shin Bet profiled the suspect as an American who hated various groups. DNA was also found at the scene of the attack on Sternhell. By the end of August this year the police suspected Tytell and began 24-hour surveillance.
A senior Shin Bet official said Sunday that although Tytell had been under surveillance, he was very careful about his activities, which made it hard to collect evidence against him. He did not commit any other attacks during the surveillance, the police say.
Yesha Council condemns attacks
"Acts of the kind allegedly committed by Yaakov Tytell are grave, prohibited and unacceptable. The security forces should be congratulated for discovering him," Danny Dayan, chairman of the Yesha Council of settlements, said Sunday.
"Any person of conscience in Israel must rise up in indignation against such acts, as well as against any despicable attempt to use them to gain political capital by blaming an entire community that is not connected - and is in fact vehemently opposed - to such actions," Dayan added.
Ne'emanei Torah Va'Avodah, a liberal religious-Zionist movement, said that it "condemns any kind of violence. There is no justification for these heinous acts in the Torah, which espouses kindness and peace. However, we ask that people avoid pointing fingers and casting blame on an entire community because of the acts of one person."
Said radical right-wing activist Itamar Ben Gvir: "I don't support violence, certainly not against Jews, but people like [Prof. Zeev] Sternhell need to take a good look at themselves. His statements and recommendations to Arabs to attack 'only' settlers constitute a provocation that has led to violence."
Settlements are fertile ground for Jewish terror
Had Teitel been satisfied with acts of murder against Palestinians, he would never have been caught.
The parade of the self-righteous got underway Sunday night: Yaakov Teitel was described as a "foreign element," "wild thorn" and "rotten apple." Even if he acted alone, spoke and hallucinated in English, even if he was mentally disturbed, as his attorney claimed, it does not change the fact that Jack the Ripper from the West Bank settlement of Shvut Rachel - contrary to his predecessor in London - acted on ground that was fertile like no other.
Yes, the settlements and especially the illegal outposts where Teitel lived and hid his weapons, along with the Kahanist settlement of Kfar Tapuah where he got his start - these are the places for such dangerous nuts. This is their refuge, where they can hide arms without being bothered and go on hate-filled killing sprees without being seen.
It is no coincidence that a terrorist or killer has never risen from within Peace Now, Gush Shalom or Yesh Gvul. However, with God's help, we have already seen two murderous terrorists from Shvut Rachel. Never has a leftist called for the death of someone who disagrees with him - and we must always remember this when we speak of left and right.
Yes, we must recoil from the entire group of settlers that again and again sprouts these cancerous growths. When a settlement is born out of sin, the sin of stolen land, the gun rests during the first act, the act of illegally confiscating the land. But you can count on there always being someone to pull the trigger in the final act.
Not everyone is a Teitel, and it's clear that not every settler is a killer. But no special investigative team was assembled when a different killing spree got underway several weeks ago, which left an olive grove razed. Teitel's fatal error was turning on other Jews. Had he been satisfied with acts of murder against the Palestinian population, he would never have been caught.
Teitel had an organized, all-embracing worldview: Death to Arabs, homosexuals, Christians, leftists, and Messianic Jews. They are all "Sodomites" who cannot be cleansed. Teitel set a price tag for everyone, just like others of his settler friends have also done. The difference is that the others only set price tags for Palestinians, so no one bothers to apprehend them. Teitel was "unbalanced" in exactly the same way as his companions. Speaking of which, has a Palestinian terrorist ever been declared "unbalanced"? Has the Shin Bet ever used the term "acted alone" to justify an uninterrupted, unsolved decade-long killing spree perpetrated by a lone Palestinian?
Now everyone will tsk-tsk. The settlers will claim "we had nothing to do with this," will roll their eyes skyward and be quick to voice harsh, and hollow, denunciations. The Shin Bet and police will wave a victory flag to show they don't bargain with settlers and the sleeping beauty of the left will continue to cloak herself in complacency. But there are more Teitels wandering around the land of occupation and negligence, and as long as they don't lay their hands on other Jews, no one will hold them accountable - and even that may change.
1 nov 2009
Settler admits to murder, series of bomb attacks
A resident of the West Bank settlement outpost Shvut Rachel was arrested last month for suspected murder and for his alleged role in a string of attempted murder plots, according to details of an investigation revealed on Sunday after a gag order on the case was lifted.
Yaakov "Jack" Teitel, 37, is suspected of killing two Palestinians, for rigging the package bomb which left the child of a Messianic Jew seriously wounded, for attempting to kill left-wing professor Ze'ev Sternhell, and for his alleged role in a series of warning attacks against Israel Police at the time of the Gay Pride Parades.
According to the Shin Bet and Israel Police, Teitel has confessed to most of the allegations against him.
The footage shows a man believed to be Teitel rigging a bomb package sent to the Ortiz family, Messianic Jews living in the West Bank settlement of Ariel.
Teitel, a resident of the northern West Bank outpost, was born in Florida and has moved back and forth between the United States and Israel over the last two decades. In 2000, he returned to Israel to live permanently.
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.
He even apparently claimed during his investigation to involvement in the attack on a gay-lesbian youth club in Tel Aviv, in which two people were killed. The Shin Bet has said, however, that there is not sufficient evidence at this point to tie him to that attack.
Teitel was arrested on October 7 in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Har Nof, in Jerusalem, after posting signs around town praising the attack on the Tel Aviv gay club.
His posters were signed with the name 'Shleisel,' referring to the ultra-Orthodox man who stabbed and wounded a number of marchers during the Jerusalem pride parade a couple of years ago.
Police also found posters in his neighbourhood offering a one million shekel reward to anyone killing a member of Israel's Peace Now movement, that opposes West Bank settlement activity.
Teitel was arrested after a prolonged police follow-up; he was in possession of a loaded gun at the time of the arrest. He was interrogated without right to a lawyer. Deliberations over his arrest were held at a number of courts, even reaching the High Court of Justice.
During his investigation, Teitel repeatedly said that he had acted of his own accord and that nobody else was involved in his alleged crimes.
His wife, Rivka, was brought in for questioning for a few hours a little over a week ago. She reserved her right to silence. Police have said that they do not have sufficient evidence to believe that she had known of his plans, even though the majority of his weapons were discovered at their house and in the adjacent yard.
According to a senior Shin Bet source, Teitel was an "autodidact" who taught himself to use weapons and rig explosives, apparently on the Internet.
Teitel has confessed to murdering a Palestinian shepherd near Mount Hebron in 1997 and to killing an Arab taxi driver in East Jerusalem some two months later. He said that he came to Israel precisely to carry out attacks against Palestinians as revenge for suicide bombings.
Settler admits to murder, series of bomb attacks
A resident of the West Bank settlement outpost Shvut Rachel was arrested last month for suspected murder and for his alleged role in a string of attempted murder plots, according to details of an investigation revealed on Sunday after a gag order on the case was lifted.
Yaakov "Jack" Teitel, 37, is suspected of killing two Palestinians, for rigging the package bomb which left the child of a Messianic Jew seriously wounded, for attempting to kill left-wing professor Ze'ev Sternhell, and for his alleged role in a series of warning attacks against Israel Police at the time of the Gay Pride Parades.
According to the Shin Bet and Israel Police, Teitel has confessed to most of the allegations against him.
The footage shows a man believed to be Teitel rigging a bomb package sent to the Ortiz family, Messianic Jews living in the West Bank settlement of Ariel.
Teitel, a resident of the northern West Bank outpost, was born in Florida and has moved back and forth between the United States and Israel over the last two decades. In 2000, he returned to Israel to live permanently.
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.
He even apparently claimed during his investigation to involvement in the attack on a gay-lesbian youth club in Tel Aviv, in which two people were killed. The Shin Bet has said, however, that there is not sufficient evidence at this point to tie him to that attack.
Teitel was arrested on October 7 in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Har Nof, in Jerusalem, after posting signs around town praising the attack on the Tel Aviv gay club.
His posters were signed with the name 'Shleisel,' referring to the ultra-Orthodox man who stabbed and wounded a number of marchers during the Jerusalem pride parade a couple of years ago.
Police also found posters in his neighbourhood offering a one million shekel reward to anyone killing a member of Israel's Peace Now movement, that opposes West Bank settlement activity.
Teitel was arrested after a prolonged police follow-up; he was in possession of a loaded gun at the time of the arrest. He was interrogated without right to a lawyer. Deliberations over his arrest were held at a number of courts, even reaching the High Court of Justice.
During his investigation, Teitel repeatedly said that he had acted of his own accord and that nobody else was involved in his alleged crimes.
His wife, Rivka, was brought in for questioning for a few hours a little over a week ago. She reserved her right to silence. Police have said that they do not have sufficient evidence to believe that she had known of his plans, even though the majority of his weapons were discovered at their house and in the adjacent yard.
According to a senior Shin Bet source, Teitel was an "autodidact" who taught himself to use weapons and rig explosives, apparently on the Internet.
Teitel has confessed to murdering a Palestinian shepherd near Mount Hebron in 1997 and to killing an Arab taxi driver in East Jerusalem some two months later. He said that he came to Israel precisely to carry out attacks against Palestinians as revenge for suicide bombings.
21 sept 2009
Tytell as trial begins: 'God is king'
Tytell as trial begins: 'God is king'
The criminal trial of alleged Jewish terrorist Ya'acov Tytell began
Wednesday in Jerusalem District Court, where the families of Tytell's
alleged victims came to face their loved ones' suspected attacker for
the first time.
Presiding judges decided to delay the reading of the indictment against
Tytell until January 10, partly because his lawyer, Adi Keitar, was
doing reserve duty and couldn't attend the hearing.
The state's indictment against Tytell spans 25 pages and includes two counts of premeditated murder and three counts of attempted murder involving 14 separate incidents between 1997 and 2008. There was a bit of drama at one point during the hearing, when Tytell refused Judge Tzvi Segel's demand that he stand to hear the charges against him. As the judge said "please rise," Tytell sat still and shook his head. The judge then said, "You don't want to stand? You're in a courthouse, stand up."
Tytell continued to sit in his place and answered, "I can hear you from here." The judge continued with the proceedings without charging Tytell with contempt of court. Tytell was led into court by three Prisons Service guards before a mob of reporters and cameramen. As in previous court appearances, he smiled and flashed the "V for victory" sign as he walked down the corridor.
When he entered the courtroom, relatives of Samir Balbisi, the taxi driver he is suspected of murdering in 1997 shouted "trash" at him. Tytell remained silent and grinning as reporters mobbed him in the courthouse, only speaking up to say "God is king, God is king" in Hebrew.
The back of the courtroom was packed with supporters of both sides, with relatives of Balbisi sitting on benches directly in front of and next to a bench full of members of the right-wing settler defense fund Honenu, which is backing Tytell's defense. Tytell's wife Rivka sat in the corner alongside the Honenu contingent, with the couple's infant son wrapped in a sling across her chest. The civil suit the victims' families plan to file seeks damages of NIS 2 million each for the family of Ami Ortiz, a 15-year-old critically wounded by a pipe bomb Tytell is suspected of leaving at his house in Ariel, and the Balbisis.
Ami's father David Ortiz, who leads a messianic Jewish congregation in Ariel, told The Jerusalem Post that he and his wife came to the hearing because "it's important for him [Tytell] to see that we are still here, we're still alive and he did not succeed in destroying us." After the hearing adjourned, David Ortiz said he was feeling fine and that "it's not every day you see a trained assassin; it's not every day you see the man who tried to murder your family."
He added that it is very encouraging to see that justice is being carried out. Ami's mother Leah said, "My heart has been pounding since 5:30 this morning. Being here takes me back to that morning." She added that, like David, she wanted to come "in order to show him [Tytell] that he was not able to destroy us." After the hearing, Balbisi's father Akram was sitting on a bench speaking with his lawyer and his murdered son's cousin Ibrahim.
He told the Post of his family's struggles since his son was murdered 12 years ago, saying that he hasn't worked since his son's passing and his wife has suffered from a litany of health problems that he believes derived from his son's death. "I wanted to come and look into his eyes," Akram Balbisi said. "This man came from America to kill Arabs, but he didn't care who he killed. I hope he gets what he deserves."
The state's indictment against Tytell spans 25 pages and includes two counts of premeditated murder and three counts of attempted murder involving 14 separate incidents between 1997 and 2008. There was a bit of drama at one point during the hearing, when Tytell refused Judge Tzvi Segel's demand that he stand to hear the charges against him. As the judge said "please rise," Tytell sat still and shook his head. The judge then said, "You don't want to stand? You're in a courthouse, stand up."
Tytell continued to sit in his place and answered, "I can hear you from here." The judge continued with the proceedings without charging Tytell with contempt of court. Tytell was led into court by three Prisons Service guards before a mob of reporters and cameramen. As in previous court appearances, he smiled and flashed the "V for victory" sign as he walked down the corridor.
When he entered the courtroom, relatives of Samir Balbisi, the taxi driver he is suspected of murdering in 1997 shouted "trash" at him. Tytell remained silent and grinning as reporters mobbed him in the courthouse, only speaking up to say "God is king, God is king" in Hebrew.
The back of the courtroom was packed with supporters of both sides, with relatives of Balbisi sitting on benches directly in front of and next to a bench full of members of the right-wing settler defense fund Honenu, which is backing Tytell's defense. Tytell's wife Rivka sat in the corner alongside the Honenu contingent, with the couple's infant son wrapped in a sling across her chest. The civil suit the victims' families plan to file seeks damages of NIS 2 million each for the family of Ami Ortiz, a 15-year-old critically wounded by a pipe bomb Tytell is suspected of leaving at his house in Ariel, and the Balbisis.
Ami's father David Ortiz, who leads a messianic Jewish congregation in Ariel, told The Jerusalem Post that he and his wife came to the hearing because "it's important for him [Tytell] to see that we are still here, we're still alive and he did not succeed in destroying us." After the hearing adjourned, David Ortiz said he was feeling fine and that "it's not every day you see a trained assassin; it's not every day you see the man who tried to murder your family."
He added that it is very encouraging to see that justice is being carried out. Ami's mother Leah said, "My heart has been pounding since 5:30 this morning. Being here takes me back to that morning." She added that, like David, she wanted to come "in order to show him [Tytell] that he was not able to destroy us." After the hearing, Balbisi's father Akram was sitting on a bench speaking with his lawyer and his murdered son's cousin Ibrahim.
He told the Post of his family's struggles since his son was murdered 12 years ago, saying that he hasn't worked since his son's passing and his wife has suffered from a litany of health problems that he believes derived from his son's death. "I wanted to come and look into his eyes," Akram Balbisi said. "This man came from America to kill Arabs, but he didn't care who he killed. I hope he gets what he deserves."
