Alleged Jewish terrorist: I have no doubt God is pleased

[MikeWB]

Alleged Jewish terrorist: I have no doubt God is pleased

By Chaim Levinson and Nir Hasson, Haaretz Correspondents

Tags: Ze'ev Sternhell


The Jerusalem District Prosecutor's Office indicted alleged Jewish terrorist Yaakov (Jack) Teitel on Thursday for the murder of two Palestinians, several bombings that caused injury but not death, and incitement to racism.

"it was a pleasure and an honor to serve my God," said Teitel at the Jerusalem courthouse. "I have no regret and no doubt that God is pleased."

Teitel also deniedrecent reports that he had operated as an undercover Shin Bet agent.
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Teitel, 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 after a gag order on the case was lifted.

The indictment charges that Teitel smuggled a disassembled firearm into Israel from the United States in 1997, and used that gun to murder taxi driver Samir Akram Balbisi in June of that year.

The indictment also lists Teitel's efforts for more than a decade to harm Arabs, gays and lesbians, leftists, police officers and messianic Jews.

Teitel had admitted to, among other offences, sending a booby-trapped Purim gift basket to a family of messianic Jews in Ariel, which seriously wounded their teenage son, Ami Ortiz, and planting a pipe bomb at the Jerusalem residence of Prof. Ze'ev Sternhell, who was lightly wounded.

At this stage, however, Teitel will not be charged with the murder of two policemen in the Jordan Valley eight months ago. While police also suspect him of this crime, they do not yet have enough evidence to charge him with it.

Earlier in the week the Petah Tikva Magistrate's Court extended his remand for another three days - and, for the first time since his arrest on October 7, Teitel himself appeared in court for the hearing. The Shin Bet security service had barred him from attending previous remand hearings.

During the hearing, Teitel's lawyer protested the difficult conditions of his imprisonment, saying he was chained to his bed 24 hours a day. The court ordered the Shin Bet to look into this complaint.