Comments (0)Alleged Jewish Terrorist Charged with Murder
November 19, 2009Jerusalem
JTA Wire Service
An alleged U.S.-born Jewish terrorist was indicted for two murders and three attempted murders.
Yaakov (Jack) Teitel appeared in Jerusalem District court Thursday, where he was charged with the murders of two Palestinians and attempted murders of Jews.
He was also indicted on several other charges, including smuggling firearms into Israel, and violence against Arabs, gays and lesbians, leftists, police officers and messianic Jews.
The court also agreed to hold Teitel in prison until the end of legal proceedings against him.
“It was a pleasure and an honor to serve my God. I have no regret and no doubt that God is pleased,” Teitel reportedly said in the courtroom.
Teitel, 37, was arrested Oct. 7 in a joint police-Shin Bet operation. Along with allegedly killing the two Palestinians, he also allegedly assembled a package bomb that seriously injured the son of a messianic Jew and set up a pipe bomb near the home of prominent professor Ze’ev Sternhell.
A Florida native, Teitel made aliyah in 2000 and is a resident of the Shvut Rachel outpost in the northern West Bank. He has four young children.
Teitel is reported to have confessed to the two murders. A court-appointed psychiatrist has found Teitel fit to stand trial, according to reports.
Several families of victims hurt by Teitel said they would file a civil suit of about $1 million against him, The Jerusalem Post reported.
9/11 Monument Dedicated in Jerusalem
A monument to the victims of 9/11 was dedicated in Jerusalem.
The monument, commissioned and built by the Jewish National Fund-USA/Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael, depicts the World Trade Center and Pentagon through sculpture and landscape architecture.
A memorial dedication was held Thursday afternoon in Jerusalem’s Arazim Park.
Designed by award-winning Israeli artist Eliezer Weishoff, the 30-foot high bronze sculpture is composed of a waving American flag transformed into a memorial flame. It rests on a gray granite base, part of which is from the original Twin Towers. The sculpture is surrounded by a circular, crater-like plaza and reflection area tiled in stone.
The memorial was donated by New York resident Edward Blank and the plaza was funded by the Bronka Stavsky Rabin Weintraub Trust.
The Jerusalem monument is the only site outside of New York to recognize the names of every victim of the attack, engraved on bronze plaques surrounding the sculpture.
“My wife died just a few days before 9/11,” explained Blank, “and then the whole world was sent reeling by the events of that day. I was looking for a meritorious way to recognize the many feelings I was having, and this memorial was the perfect fit.”
Fervently Orthodox Jews Protest Intel
Fervently Orthodox Jews protested the Saturday operation of Intel’s Jerusalem computer chip plant.
Up to 2,000 protesters demonstrated Saturday in front of the factory.
The demonstrators attacked journalists covering the protest, as well as Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Yitzhak Pindrus, of the fervently Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, whom they accuse of selling out to the secular establishment.
The company’s security guards used pepper spray against some of the protesters, who broke through barbed wire fences installed to deter them.
The new plant, which employs 150 people, opened last Friday ahead of a dedication ceremony on Sunday.
“This plant will operate in accordance with our business needs and the law, including on Saturdays,” Intel spokesman Koby Bahar told Ha’aretz.
“I condemn the acts of violence, which will achieve nothing, and hope the sides reach an understanding,” Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said Sunday at the factory’s dedication ceremony.
“I am a staunch supporter of the status quo and co-existence in the capital. Intel has been operating in Jerusalem for the past 24 years under the same format,” said the mayor, “I will continue working for the company’s success and expansion, and towards bringing additional high-tech companies to the capital.”
This story reprinted courtesy of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.