West Bank – Israeli authorities have arrested a Jewish-American extremist suspected of carrying out a series of high-profile hate crimes against Arabs, peace activists and a breakaway Jewish sect.
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Israel’s Shin Bet undercover agents said that Yaakov “Jack” Teitel, a 37-year-old ultra-Orthodox West Bank settler, is behind the attacks, spanning 12 years. They said he had confessed to killing two Palestinians and bombing the home of an Israeli professor among a string of attacks over the past decade, after being arrested while handing out leaflets condemning homosexuals.
Police and security forces said Sunday that Teitel’s targets included the murder of two Arabs and bombing attacks against a prominent left-wing academic, a family of messianic Jews, a monastery and Israeli police, whom he accused of begin pro-gay.
Jerusalem police chief Aharon Franco told a news conference that the father of four appeared to have acted alone during his long campaign of violence against those he saw as enemies. Authorities originally suspected a Jewish underground for some of the attacks. But acquaintances described the father of four as a lone wolf.
These allegedly included a Palestinian shepherd killed more than a decade ago and Professor Zeev Sternhell, an outspoken Israeli critic of Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, who was wounded by a pipe bomb at his Jerusalem home last year.
Please, do not describe this person as “ultra-Orthodox.” He is not Orthodox. Putting on a yarmulkeh and keeping kosher don’t make you Orthodox if you kill people and plant pipe bombs. It sounds as if he simply likes violence and is using religion as an excuse.
PLEASE, do not begin raining loshon hara on this yid. Whether he was right or wrong is irrelevant, it is still loshon hara. Whether it is truthful or not, it is still loshon hara!
In the Arab world, this man would be a hero.
Let us find out the details before accusing. I would not be surprised if the ‘lone Arab shepard’ was a terrorist on his way back from some Jew killing….and killed in self defense.
I know this guy. He did not live in israel 10 years ago so could not have committed these alleged crimes.
If he’s done what he’s charged with he must stand trial and face the same penalties as any other murderer and terrorist.
And Milhouse, there is a difference between “our blood and theirs”. Our blood is still on the inside. The blood of his victims was spilled on the ground. Whatever you think should be done to Gentiles who murder Jews must be done to Jews who murder Gentiles. All that Torah should have taught him that murder is wrong.
I am not arguing for or against this man but a former
egyptian general is predicting more wars why should Israel allow the creation of a Palestinian state and why have peace talk and propaganda for war is deadly
wow.
I know he and his family well. They are wonderful people. If he indeed did these crimes, then he needs to suffer the consequences of his actions. HOWEVER, until it is proven that he did in fact do everything claimed and for the time claimed, he is an innocent Yid until proven otherwise.
In the meantime, how about instead of trashing he and his family, we daven for them, they certainly need it, as does all of Klal Israel.
mixed feelings on this subject. we as jews have been killed and torn apart for such a long time. to see a person to stand up and show that not everyone will do nothing makes me feel good. but as a person who knows killing inecent people is wrong it makes me feel bad that a jew would go around and hurt and kill. but then again how many children and women and men were hurt and killed the same way. its hard to judge someone when u have not lived in that persons shoes. the judge himself has that responsiblty and is a responiblty I would not want. there is no right answer when this happens. u have people who will say its wrong , u don’t go around killing and hurting people. others will say its right ,we as jews don’t have to get killed just because we are jewish, fight and kill just as is done to us. then again we are a different type of people.
It seems like our community is so gullible. Doesn’t anyone have some curiosity as to the real facts in this case.
The feared Shin Bet secret police take this fellow away for weeks, without access to a lawyer, with sleep deprivation, psychological pressure, and physical coercion, and viola! they claim he has singlehandedly committed over a decade of crimes in Israel.
The police like to pin a bunch of unsolved crimes on a single suspect. For all we know, this poor fellow is complete innocent. Those who condemn the secular Zionists suddenly believe the secret police when it comes to claims against a fellow, frum Jew? Oh, I forgot, he is not exactly from our snit, from our sliver of orthodoxy, so it’s okay to condemn him and assume everything said about him is 100% accurate.
Give me a break! This frum guy deserves a fair trial, not months of incarceration in a Shabak prison. I know someone who was totally innocent and suffered a similar fate. It took him years to get exonerated. These guys are not tzaddikim and they are not flawless.
I hope this guy is innocen, Innocent until proven guilty.
But the idea of conquering terrorism with terrorism is against the torah, against humanity and against every moral.
Wake up he confessed
if not for Mair Kahana Israel would be in a different place so everyone please cut it out! There is no mitzva to just suck it up!
WHH
Mr. Kaufman. The poor “Zhlub” as you called him was not inept. I understand he was in the American Marine Corps, and was trained as you well know in an elite art of war. I imagine him coming to Israel and seeing a sort of Hefker here regarding protection of israeli citizens in the area which he lived, and I believe he felt he was protecting them and his family in the way he best knew how. I think both desperation and cold analytics drove him and I feel very sorry for he and his family. I don’t believe in the madness of individual idealogues nor in innocent murder, however, under the present untenable circumstances in Eretz Yisrael the Government must take some responsibility for creating a climate where people are moved to desperation by their abandonment and consistent inaction against the relentless civil unrest with the Arabs. Only G-D can judge this man, and it is doubtful if any of the respondents here have the tzedek, the wisdom, competence or right to judge.
To those of you out there defending the blood for blood, terror for terror line of logic: do you realize that (at least) four of the attacks he is accused of had NOTHING to do with “blood for blood, terror for terror.” He is also alleged to have bombed a secular Jewish professor and a police station (as well as a monestary and a messianic family).
As much as one opposes secularism and a secular state, SURELY we should NEVER support, advocate or defend Jew v. Jew violence. As far as the monestary and messianics are concerned, again, as much as I am deeply offended by their presence in Israel, the idea of blowing them up with a bomb is equally offensive.
Arguing that he is innocent until proven guilty or being suspicious of the state secret police are valid and legitimate positions. However, this man is no defender of Jewish blood. We are only allowed to kill as a direct act of self-defense, NOT retaliation. If guilty, he is a murderer of innocents, and that is a chillul HaShem.
A last thought: have any connection been established between Teitel and the Kahanist movement? I, for one, would hardly be surprised if there were.
I don’t know about you, but after 9-11, I was very upset that the arabs did not denounce the terrorism.
Whenver someone said “most muslims are horrified blah, blah, blah” I said “Good, I hope so, where are they and why are they not speaking out?
So, as soon as his crimes are proven, I think we should all speak out against him so that no one can claim that our silence is our agreement.
That being said, I know this guy and his family and they are not “ultra’orthodox”. He is however, a real case and should have been in therapy for the last 20 years
Milhouse says: “And he’s still alive, as are the missionaries, so you needn’t be concerned about their blood.” I wonder how you would feel if your child opened a bomb, and was badly injured. And so you don’t like Prof. Sternhell’s views, so you aren’t too worried about his being wounded by a bomb. Your lack of sympathy is disgusting.
Still, for these particular crimes, attempted murder, rather than murder, will be the charge. the murder charges will be reserved for those attempts that succeeded–even if Milhouse happens to think that the victims are not innocent simply because they are Arabs. One can always count on Milhouse for a refreshing dash of racism in one’s reading.
Milhouse, after reading your posts, nobody would ever expect you to beleive in obeying a civil law that you found inconvenient (smuggling, for example), nor would one expect you to believe in the basic principle of equal justice. You seem to believe that it is perfectly all right to physically attack those who believe differently than you do, for example. Terrorist acts do not seem to bother you at all, as long as Jews commit them against others. You seem to lack all sense of ben adam l’chaveiro. I can only imagine how you must feel about Yigal Amir and Baruch Goldstein.
You bhet that I sympathize with anyone injured or killed in a terror attack. As far as your opinions of missionaries, I wonder if it has escaped your attention that a child was seriously injured in the attack. Your lack of sympathy for children places you in good company. You can find similar opinions among the leadership and rank-and-file of Hamas and Hezbollah. Your morals would fit right in with them.
Everyone here has taken it for granted that this guy is guilty as charged, and apparently, most of them don’t believe in – “Innocent until proven guilty”. By the way, there are ways that the police have where they ‘influence’ the arrested party to ‘confess’. Everyone knows that. Until all evidence is out there proving one way or another, we only know what we read. Eventually, hopefully, truth will prevail! In the meantime, as yidden, we should pray for the family and for klal Yisroel.