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His terrorist killer Yaakov "Jack" Tytell
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Issa Jabarin 57 Samir Akram Balbisi, june 8 1997 pic |
9 apr 2013
Teitel convicted of two counts of first degree murder of Palestinians; two counts attempted murder; illegal possession of firearm; incitement to violence. Victim's relative: 'He got what he deserved'
"Jewish terrorist" Jack (Yakov) Teitel, who was convicted of two counts of first degree murder of two Palestinians, in addition to a long list other violent offences, was sentenced Tuesday to two life sentences and an additional 30 years in jail by a Jerusalem District Court. Before sentencing Teitel claimed he did not regret his actions.
The judges rejected the defense's request for a reduced sentence on the basis of Teitel's mental state and, in addition, the court ruled that Teitel will pay the two victims' families NIS 180,000 (roughly $50,000) each in compensation; he was also ordered to pay two people he was convicted of attempting to murder NIS 150,000 (roughly $41,000) each in damages.
Teitel, a US immigrant, confessed to the killings, which he committed while visiting as a tourist. He was convicted in January of killing a Palestinian taxi driver in Jerusalem and a shepherd near the West Bank city of Hebron.
Teitel, who received the infamous nickname the "Jewish terrorist," was charged with 10 different offences, the most severe of which were two counts of murder in the first degree, two counts of attempted murder, illegal possession and assembling of a firearm and incitement to violence.
During sentencing, Judges Zvi Segal, Moshe Drori and Moshe Cohen ruled that his mental condition had no influence on his actions and hence he would be held fully accountable for them.
"There is no doubt in our hearts that there is no causal link between his actions and his mental condition. Hence, we have decided to convict him of the actions attributed to him," the judges said in the ruling.
Hatred in the first degree
The first murder for which Teitel was convicted took place in 1997. The deceased, Samir Akram Balbisi, was working at the time as a taxi driver, offered to drive Teitel to wherever he pleased.
Teitel agreed, entered Balbisi's vehicle and then ordered the Palestinian to drive him to a certain location. When he saw that Balbisi's eyes were on the road he shot him point blank in the head. Three months later Teitel decided to kill again. He searched for a victim in the village of Susya and found a shepherd, Issa Jabarin. As Jabarin passed Teital he fired two shots, both from short range, in Jabarin's direction, hitting him in the chest.
Teital was also convicted of incitement to violence and terror after he printed posters calling for the murder of members of the LGBT community, promising NIS 20,000 (roughly $5,500) for the person willing to kill "Sodom and Gomorra." He was also charged with planting an explosive device inside a plant near the entrance to Prof. Zeev Sternhell's house in September 2008.
Sternhell, a world renowned professor of political science, an Israel Prize laureate and a peace activist, was wounded in his leg when the device exploded. He was additionally charged with the attempted murder of the youth Ami Ortiz in 2008. Teitel placed an explosive device inside a gift basket intended for the boy's father, David Ortiz, with the intent of killing him, because the man served as the head of the messianic Jewish community. The family's maid unknowingly took the booby trapped gift basket into the house, leading the boy to open it, prompting the bomb to go off. The boy was severely wounded throughout his body.
In response to the sentence, Prof. Zeev Sternhell said: "The ruling is sign to all those who think that this is the way to get results- Teitel or his friends."
Regarding compensation, Prof. Sternhell said: "I don't want any damages from this man, and I don't need anything. I happy that I was only lightly wounded."
According to Teitel, Prof. Sternhell, who is known for his outspoken left wing opinions, gained his attention after he allegedly called for the death of settlers.
Prof. Sternhell said, "The ruling is just, important, deterring and a sign that the courts will not sit quietly in the face of politically and ideologically motivated murders. This ruling has significance exceeding the bounds of this specific case. Teitel is not just another lunatic. He is a result of his surroundings.
"He actualized what others want to do themselves, many who wanted to do the same to me. I know this because of the letters and phone calls I received during that time. This violence needs to be cut off at the stem, even that which currently is rampant in the occupied territories. If not, this violence will seep into every aspect of our society."
A number of the victims' relatives arrived at the court for the sentencing.
Ibrahim Balbisi, the father of Akram Balbisi, whom Teitel murdered, said upon hearing the sentence: "There is justice. It hurts my heart every day my son is not with us. Day and night we cannot sleep, our thoughts always wander to Akram. I am happy the sentence sends this killer to jail for the rest of his life." Leah Ortiz, Ami's mother, said: "We are very happy that Teitel received many years behind bars. He said he is proud of what he did and would do it again; he is a dangerous man, full of hate – jail is where he belongs."
Yossi Greiber, Ortiz's lawyer, expressed anger at the fact that the State refuses to recognize the family as a victim of a terror attack and afford them the financial assistance such victims enjoy. "We are left with the pain and wounds. They boy is 20 years old and will require medical treatment for the rest of his life. Despite the fact that the background of the attack is identical to that of the deaths of the Palestinians, as the court itself claimed, the State refuses to grant us assistance," the lawyer said.
Lawyers Asher Ohayon and Michael Ironi, who represented Teitel, claimed the court ignored the complexity of their client's mental state, opting for the easy solution. "Eight doctors, some who work for the State, think differently from the court (about Teitel's mental condition), but instead of dealing with this issue the court choose to ignore it.
Teitel didn’t kill because of hatred, he has visions, he received orders which he felt he had to follow. And these resulted from a mental condition that had developed early in his childhood," one of the lawyers said. Sagi Ofir, for the prosecution, said: "The criminal was sent to jail for the rest of his life, as he deserved. The court affirmed the message towards those who turn to terror. We can only hope this will serve as a deterrent to those who wish to engage in terror activities."
"Jewish terrorist" Jack (Yakov) Teitel, who was convicted of two counts of first degree murder of two Palestinians, in addition to a long list other violent offences, was sentenced Tuesday to two life sentences and an additional 30 years in jail by a Jerusalem District Court. Before sentencing Teitel claimed he did not regret his actions.
The judges rejected the defense's request for a reduced sentence on the basis of Teitel's mental state and, in addition, the court ruled that Teitel will pay the two victims' families NIS 180,000 (roughly $50,000) each in compensation; he was also ordered to pay two people he was convicted of attempting to murder NIS 150,000 (roughly $41,000) each in damages.
Teitel, a US immigrant, confessed to the killings, which he committed while visiting as a tourist. He was convicted in January of killing a Palestinian taxi driver in Jerusalem and a shepherd near the West Bank city of Hebron.
Teitel, who received the infamous nickname the "Jewish terrorist," was charged with 10 different offences, the most severe of which were two counts of murder in the first degree, two counts of attempted murder, illegal possession and assembling of a firearm and incitement to violence.
During sentencing, Judges Zvi Segal, Moshe Drori and Moshe Cohen ruled that his mental condition had no influence on his actions and hence he would be held fully accountable for them.
"There is no doubt in our hearts that there is no causal link between his actions and his mental condition. Hence, we have decided to convict him of the actions attributed to him," the judges said in the ruling.
Hatred in the first degree
The first murder for which Teitel was convicted took place in 1997. The deceased, Samir Akram Balbisi, was working at the time as a taxi driver, offered to drive Teitel to wherever he pleased.
Teitel agreed, entered Balbisi's vehicle and then ordered the Palestinian to drive him to a certain location. When he saw that Balbisi's eyes were on the road he shot him point blank in the head. Three months later Teitel decided to kill again. He searched for a victim in the village of Susya and found a shepherd, Issa Jabarin. As Jabarin passed Teital he fired two shots, both from short range, in Jabarin's direction, hitting him in the chest.
Teital was also convicted of incitement to violence and terror after he printed posters calling for the murder of members of the LGBT community, promising NIS 20,000 (roughly $5,500) for the person willing to kill "Sodom and Gomorra." He was also charged with planting an explosive device inside a plant near the entrance to Prof. Zeev Sternhell's house in September 2008.
Sternhell, a world renowned professor of political science, an Israel Prize laureate and a peace activist, was wounded in his leg when the device exploded. He was additionally charged with the attempted murder of the youth Ami Ortiz in 2008. Teitel placed an explosive device inside a gift basket intended for the boy's father, David Ortiz, with the intent of killing him, because the man served as the head of the messianic Jewish community. The family's maid unknowingly took the booby trapped gift basket into the house, leading the boy to open it, prompting the bomb to go off. The boy was severely wounded throughout his body.
In response to the sentence, Prof. Zeev Sternhell said: "The ruling is sign to all those who think that this is the way to get results- Teitel or his friends."
Regarding compensation, Prof. Sternhell said: "I don't want any damages from this man, and I don't need anything. I happy that I was only lightly wounded."
According to Teitel, Prof. Sternhell, who is known for his outspoken left wing opinions, gained his attention after he allegedly called for the death of settlers.
Prof. Sternhell said, "The ruling is just, important, deterring and a sign that the courts will not sit quietly in the face of politically and ideologically motivated murders. This ruling has significance exceeding the bounds of this specific case. Teitel is not just another lunatic. He is a result of his surroundings.
"He actualized what others want to do themselves, many who wanted to do the same to me. I know this because of the letters and phone calls I received during that time. This violence needs to be cut off at the stem, even that which currently is rampant in the occupied territories. If not, this violence will seep into every aspect of our society."
A number of the victims' relatives arrived at the court for the sentencing.
Ibrahim Balbisi, the father of Akram Balbisi, whom Teitel murdered, said upon hearing the sentence: "There is justice. It hurts my heart every day my son is not with us. Day and night we cannot sleep, our thoughts always wander to Akram. I am happy the sentence sends this killer to jail for the rest of his life." Leah Ortiz, Ami's mother, said: "We are very happy that Teitel received many years behind bars. He said he is proud of what he did and would do it again; he is a dangerous man, full of hate – jail is where he belongs."
Yossi Greiber, Ortiz's lawyer, expressed anger at the fact that the State refuses to recognize the family as a victim of a terror attack and afford them the financial assistance such victims enjoy. "We are left with the pain and wounds. They boy is 20 years old and will require medical treatment for the rest of his life. Despite the fact that the background of the attack is identical to that of the deaths of the Palestinians, as the court itself claimed, the State refuses to grant us assistance," the lawyer said.
Lawyers Asher Ohayon and Michael Ironi, who represented Teitel, claimed the court ignored the complexity of their client's mental state, opting for the easy solution. "Eight doctors, some who work for the State, think differently from the court (about Teitel's mental condition), but instead of dealing with this issue the court choose to ignore it.
Teitel didn’t kill because of hatred, he has visions, he received orders which he felt he had to follow. And these resulted from a mental condition that had developed early in his childhood," one of the lawyers said. Sagi Ofir, for the prosecution, said: "The criminal was sent to jail for the rest of his life, as he deserved. The court affirmed the message towards those who turn to terror. We can only hope this will serve as a deterrent to those who wish to engage in terror activities."
3 apr 2013
Wife of Yaakov Teitel, convicted of murder of two Palestinians, claims police sexually harassed her during interrogation; Police: She didn't show for deposition, case closed
Rivka Teitel, wife of Jewish terrorist Yaakov Teitel, filed a complaint with the Police Internal Affairs Department claiming she was sexually harassed during an interrogation.
Internal Affairs stated in response that the case was closed after Teitel failed to arrive for a deposition.
Yaakov Teitel, who was convicted in early 2013 for the murder of two Palestinians, was arrested in 2009 following a prolonged Shin Bet investigation.
Since his arrest, his wife has resided with their children in the Shevut Rachel settlement in Binyamin, the West Bank.
Rivka Teitel was arrested in a wave of arrests in late 2012 in various settlements in Binyamin, and claimed that during her interrogation she suffered verbal abuse, demeaning and rude sexual insinuations.
She was released after several days and recently decided to file the complaint.
Internal Affairs stated in response: "A complaint was indeed filed via Mrs. Teitel's lawyer. She was summoned to be deposed so the issue could be further investigated. As she failed to do so, the case was closed."
Rivka Teitel, wife of Jewish terrorist Yaakov Teitel, filed a complaint with the Police Internal Affairs Department claiming she was sexually harassed during an interrogation.
Internal Affairs stated in response that the case was closed after Teitel failed to arrive for a deposition.
Yaakov Teitel, who was convicted in early 2013 for the murder of two Palestinians, was arrested in 2009 following a prolonged Shin Bet investigation.
Since his arrest, his wife has resided with their children in the Shevut Rachel settlement in Binyamin, the West Bank.
Rivka Teitel was arrested in a wave of arrests in late 2012 in various settlements in Binyamin, and claimed that during her interrogation she suffered verbal abuse, demeaning and rude sexual insinuations.
She was released after several days and recently decided to file the complaint.
Internal Affairs stated in response: "A complaint was indeed filed via Mrs. Teitel's lawyer. She was summoned to be deposed so the issue could be further investigated. As she failed to do so, the case was closed."
16 jan 2013
Update Ynet mentions Teitel is convicted of the attempted murder of Ami Ortiz, however gets it wrong as they claim Teitel thought Ami (15 at the time) was a leader of the Messianic congregation. This is an example of poor journalism.
Teitel was also found guilty of the 2008 attempted murder of then15-year-old Ami Ortiz. Teitel placed explosives in a package delivered to Ortiz’ home, because he believed that the teen was the leader of a messianic cult. Ortiz suffered serious injuries as a result.
Arutz7 don’t do any better as they continue to airbrush Ami Ortiz out, this time claiming he was an Arab!
Teital is of Jewish ethnicity while the victims were of Arabic ethnicity.
Teitel was also found guilty of the 2008 attempted murder of then15-year-old Ami Ortiz. Teitel placed explosives in a package delivered to Ortiz’ home, because he believed that the teen was the leader of a messianic cult. Ortiz suffered serious injuries as a result.
Arutz7 don’t do any better as they continue to airbrush Ami Ortiz out, this time claiming he was an Arab!
Teital is of Jewish ethnicity while the victims were of Arabic ethnicity.
Ami Ortiz before
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Ami Ortiz after
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Court convicts 'Jewish Terrorist' of murder
Jerusalem District Court finds Jack Teitel to be sane, criminally responsible for murder of Palestinians between 1997-2008. The Jerusalem District Court on Wednesday convicted the “Jewish terrorist” Jack Teitel of murdering two Palestinians and an assortment of other crimes. |
Crucially, despite Teitel saying that an “angel” had controlled him, the court found that he was not insane and was “responsible for his actions,” which made it more likely that he will get a maximum life sentence.
In May, the court had accepted an unusual plea bargain made between the district attorney and lawyers representing Teitel, and determined that the defendant had murdered two Palestinians and committed other violent crimes from 1997 to 2008.
Judges Zvi Segal, Moshe Hacohen and Moshe Yair Drori said the court determined that Teitel committed the acts attributed to him in an amended indictment.
This indictment includes 10 of the original 14 charges against him, including two murders and two attempted murders, after the prosecution agreed to remove charges relating to attempted attacks that the authorities had foiled and general language about Teitel’s hatred for those who disagreed with or were different from him being the motivator for his crimes.
The court did not formally convict Teitel until Wednesday after carefully review whether he could be held criminally responsible for his actions when he committed the offenses.
Although he agreed to admit to the charges, Teitel refused to plead guilty in court because he does not recognize its authority.
Instead, in a highly unusual procedure that required special court approval, his attorney Asher Ohayon told the court that Teitel admitted to the charges in the amended indictment.
Courts normally require an accused to admit to an offense in-person as a safeguard to his rights, to be sure he has not been coerced, or is confused about what he is admitting to.
Dubbed “the Jewish terrorist,” Florida-born Teitel, 39, was originally indicted in 2009.
In May, the court had accepted an unusual plea bargain made between the district attorney and lawyers representing Teitel, and determined that the defendant had murdered two Palestinians and committed other violent crimes from 1997 to 2008.
Judges Zvi Segal, Moshe Hacohen and Moshe Yair Drori said the court determined that Teitel committed the acts attributed to him in an amended indictment.
This indictment includes 10 of the original 14 charges against him, including two murders and two attempted murders, after the prosecution agreed to remove charges relating to attempted attacks that the authorities had foiled and general language about Teitel’s hatred for those who disagreed with or were different from him being the motivator for his crimes.
The court did not formally convict Teitel until Wednesday after carefully review whether he could be held criminally responsible for his actions when he committed the offenses.
Although he agreed to admit to the charges, Teitel refused to plead guilty in court because he does not recognize its authority.
Instead, in a highly unusual procedure that required special court approval, his attorney Asher Ohayon told the court that Teitel admitted to the charges in the amended indictment.
Courts normally require an accused to admit to an offense in-person as a safeguard to his rights, to be sure he has not been coerced, or is confused about what he is admitting to.
Dubbed “the Jewish terrorist,” Florida-born Teitel, 39, was originally indicted in 2009.
Samir Akram Balbisi
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, in around May 1997, when Teitel was still in the US, he decided to murder Palestinians and came to Israel for that purpose, smuggling a gun into the country by hiding it in a VCR.
Teitel spent his first weeks in Israel with friends in Jerusalem.
Later, he acquired bullets for his smuggled gun, and sought out a suitable victim.
The indictment said Teitel chose to murder an Arab taxi driver because he thought he could ask the driver to first drive him to a suitable spot.
On June 8, 1997, Teitel went to the Arab taxi stand at Damascus Gate in Jerusalem, the indictment said, where he hired Balbisi and told him to take him to a hotel.
After driving for a while, however, Teitel told Balbisi to stop and wait, before shooting the Palestinian in the head at point-blank range.
The indictment also charges Teitel 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, Teitel made aliya and lived in Shvut Rachel, a West Bank settlement north of Jerusalem, where he married and had four children. Also in 2000, he was arrested by police on suspicion of carrying out both of the 1997 murders, but was later released due to lack of evidence.
In March 2008, according to the indictment, Teitel attempted to murder 15-year old Amiel Ortiz, a Messianic (i.e. Christian) Jewish teen from Ariel.
Teitel sent a bomb in a Purim gift basket to Ortiz’s home, which exploded when the youth opened it.
Other charges include planting homemade explosives in September 2008 at the home of Prof. Ze’ev Sternhell, a left-wing scholar from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Teitel 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.
He attacked a police station in 2006 during a gay pride parade.
Following his arrest in 2009, Teitel was remanded into 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.
Teitel’s lawyers argued that their client did not know right from wrong when he committed the acts, and therefore the court could not impose a prison term.
There were even arguments that an “angel” had controlled his actions and at least one expert said that Teitel was insane. But the prosecution successfully argued that Teitel was responsible for his actions when committing the crimes.
The court said that it accepted another expert opinion that regardless of whether Teitel 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 far more by this time.
Rather, based on the above and the rational manner in which Teitel gave statements to police when arrested, the court agreed with the expert that any episodes of insanity came after the crimes and during imprisonment.
The court made an interim finding that Teitel was sane and criminally responsible on December 7, but the final formal conviction with all of its legal consequences was not announced until Wednesday.
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, in around May 1997, when Teitel was still in the US, he decided to murder Palestinians and came to Israel for that purpose, smuggling a gun into the country by hiding it in a VCR.
Teitel spent his first weeks in Israel with friends in Jerusalem.
Later, he acquired bullets for his smuggled gun, and sought out a suitable victim.
The indictment said Teitel chose to murder an Arab taxi driver because he thought he could ask the driver to first drive him to a suitable spot.
On June 8, 1997, Teitel went to the Arab taxi stand at Damascus Gate in Jerusalem, the indictment said, where he hired Balbisi and told him to take him to a hotel.
After driving for a while, however, Teitel told Balbisi to stop and wait, before shooting the Palestinian in the head at point-blank range.
The indictment also charges Teitel 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, Teitel made aliya and lived in Shvut Rachel, a West Bank settlement north of Jerusalem, where he married and had four children. Also in 2000, he was arrested by police on suspicion of carrying out both of the 1997 murders, but was later released due to lack of evidence.
In March 2008, according to the indictment, Teitel attempted to murder 15-year old Amiel Ortiz, a Messianic (i.e. Christian) Jewish teen from Ariel.
Teitel sent a bomb in a Purim gift basket to Ortiz’s home, which exploded when the youth opened it.
Other charges include planting homemade explosives in September 2008 at the home of Prof. Ze’ev Sternhell, a left-wing scholar from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Teitel 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.
He attacked a police station in 2006 during a gay pride parade.
Following his arrest in 2009, Teitel was remanded into 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.
Teitel’s lawyers argued that their client did not know right from wrong when he committed the acts, and therefore the court could not impose a prison term.
There were even arguments that an “angel” had controlled his actions and at least one expert said that Teitel was insane. But the prosecution successfully argued that Teitel was responsible for his actions when committing the crimes.
The court said that it accepted another expert opinion that regardless of whether Teitel 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 far more by this time.
Rather, based on the above and the rational manner in which Teitel gave statements to police when arrested, the court agreed with the expert that any episodes of insanity came after the crimes and during imprisonment.
The court made an interim finding that Teitel was sane and criminally responsible on December 7, but the final formal conviction with all of its legal consequences was not announced until Wednesday.
Should Teitel's house be razed?
A West Bank settler dubbed "The Jewish Terrorist" by the Israeli media was convicted on Wednesday of killing two Palestinians in 1997.
Yaakov "Jack" Tytell, a US immigrant to a settlement in the occupied West Bank, confessed to the killings. Efforts by his lawyers, one whom quoted him as saying he had been on a "mission from God", to have him declared insane failed.
The court convicted him of murdering a Palestinian taxi driver in Jerusalem and a shepherd in Hebron, while visiting the area as a tourist in 1997.
Tytell moved to Israel 12 years ago and in 2008 planted bombs that injured a left-wing Israeli academic and a teenager who belonged to a group of Jews who follow the teachings of Jesus.
He admitted to the series of attacks, and flashed a V-for-Victory sign at the hearing, where sentencing was set for next month.
After Tytell's arrest in 2009, he told investigators he had acted alone and was not part of any anti-Arab Jewish underground. He was detained by police while hanging posters in Jerusalem praising a still-unsolved shooting that year that killed two people at a community center for gay youngsters in Tel Aviv.
Court convicts 'Jewish Terrorist' of murder
Jerusalem District Court finds Jack Teitel to be sane, criminally responsible for murder of Palestinians between 1997-2008.
The Jerusalem District Court on Wednesday convicted the "Jewish Terrorist" Jack Teitel of murdering two Palestinians and an assortment of other crimes between 1997 and 2008.
Crucially, the court found that Teitel was not insane and was "responsible for his actions," which make it more likely that he will get a maximum life sentence.
In May, the court had accepted an unusual plea bargain made between the district attorney and lawyers representing Teitel, and determined that the defendant had murdered two Palestinians and committed other violent crimes.
Judges Zvi Segal, Moshe Hacohen and Moshe Yair Drori said that the court determined that Teitel committed the acts attributed to him in an amended indictment.
The amended indictment includes 10 of the original 14 charges against Teitel, including two murders and two attempted murders, after the prosecution agreed to remove charges relating to attempted attacks that the authorities had foiled and general language about Teitel's hatred for those disagreeing or different from him being the motivator for his crimes.
The court did not formally convict Teitel until Wednesday to carefully review whether he could be held criminally responsible for his actions when he committed the offenses.
Although he agreed to admit to the charges, Teitel refused to come and admit the charges directly to the court in-person because he does not recognize its authority.
Instead, in a highly unusual procedure that required special court approval, Teitel’s attorney Asher Ohayon told the court that Teitel admitted to the charges in the amended indictment.
Courts normally require an accused to admit to an offense in-person as a safeguard to the rights of an accused to make sure that the accused has not been coerced or is confused about what they are admitting to.
'Jewish terrorist' Jack Teitel convicted
Jerusalem District Court finds radical rightist guilty of two counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder; rules he was sane at time of the murders
Yaakov "Jack" Teitel, notoriously known as the "Jewish Terrorist," was convicted of the murder to two Palestinians and the attempted murder of two other people.
The conviction, rendered by the Jerusalem District Court on Wednesday, stated that Teitel was in full control of his faculties at the time of the murders, thus debunking the defense's repeated claims that he was legally insane and therefore should not be held responsible of his actions.
Teitel was arrested in 2009 and was held without bail ever since. The indictment against him consisted of 10 counts, including premeditated murder, attempted murder, illegal possession of firearms, arms manufacturing and incitement to violence.
During the trial, it was also revealed that the police and Shin Bet had information which directly pointed at Teitel as the prime suspect in a series of hate crimes, but he had somehow managed to slip through their fingers.
According to court transcripts, Teitel was convicted of the 1997 murder of Samir Akram, a Palestinian bus driver, who offered him a ride. Shortly after boarding the bus, Teitel instructed Akram to pull over to the side of the road, and shot him at point-black range.
He was also convicted of the 1997 murder of Issa Jabarin, a Palestinian shepherd. Teitel shot him twice in the chest, at close range.
Teitel was also found guilty of the 2008 attempted murder of then15-year-old Ami Ortiz. Teitel placed explosives in a package delivered to Ortiz' home, because he believed that the teen was the leader of a messianic cult. Ortiz suffered serious injuries as a result.
The court further found Teitel guilty of incitement to violence and terror, after he publicly pledged a NIS 20,000 (roughly $5,000) reward to anyone killing gay men and women and "ridding the earth of this Sodom and Gomorrah."
A flyer he printed and distributed to that effect offered detailed instructions on how to construct a Molotov cocktail.
He was also convicted of targeting Prominent Israeli historian Professor Ze'ev Sternhell in 2008 by planting a pipe bomb in a plant outside his house. Luckily, Sternhell was only lightly wounded.
In May 2012, after three years of consistent denials, Teitel confessed to his crimes. In an unusual move, the confession was signed and filed with the court by his two attorneys – as he stated that he refused to recognize the court's jurisdiction.
However, the State agreed to the defense's request to omit a part of the original indictment, which stated that he was motivated by his objection to groups or individuals whose lifestyles contrasted to his own.
‘Jewish terrorist’ convicted of double murder
Jerusalem court rejects US-born Jack Tytell’s insanity plea; sentence for killing of two Palestinians to be handed down later
An American-born Israeli Jew, a settler who killed two Palestinians and wounded two Israelis, was convicted Wednesday on two counts of first degree murder and a string of other hate crimes, including attempted murder and incitement to violence.
The Jerusalem District Court rejected psychiatric testimony on behalf of the defendant and found that Jack Tytell was legally responsible for the 10 crimes he had confessed to and therefore “has no defense” in the insanity plea submitted by his lawyers.
Judge Moshe Drori, the author of the decision, rejected claims that Tytell was delusional and had acted on the orders of angels, as his lawyers claimed. Citing Tytell’s police interrogation transcript, in which Tytell said he had come to Israel primarily to “revenge the deaths of Jews at the hands of our Arab enemies,” Drori noted that the defendant did not claim to have come on account of “a signal from God or an angel, neither in dreams nor in day dreams.”
He later noted in the 99-page ruling that Tytell chose to spare a child in 1997 and instead murdered what he felt was a more appropriate victim. “This is near positive proof that the angel theory didn’t exist and never was created,” Drori wrote in the unanimous decision.
Tytell, a 40 year-old native of Florida, committed his first murder as an American tourist living in Israel.
In May 1997, the court noted dryly, the “defendant decided to kill an Arab.” Tytell stopped a taxi driven by Samir Akram Balbisi of east Jerusalem and, after asking him to pull over, shot him in the back of the head, killing him.
Three months later he decided to kill again. He rented a car in Jerusalem, drove to the south Hebron town of Susiya and, after seeing a flock of goats, looked for a victim. He rejected a Palestinian child in the area, telling police investigators later that killing children was “not the American way.” Moments later he encountered Issa Jabarin, 57. He called him over to the car and shot him twice in the chest. Jabarin died of his wounds.
The police found that Tytell had lied about his address when renting the car and that the Fiat Punto had been seen in the precise vicinity of Jabarin’s murder, Yedioth Ahronoth reported in 2009. In addition, he had lied about his whereabouts and left for the US on a one-way ticket three days after the murder. Nonetheless, the police did not pursue the case against Tytell.
In 1999 he moved back to Israel, to the settlement of Shvut Rachel, and in 2000 became an Israeli citizen under the Law of Return, which grants Jews Israeli citizenship. In May 2000 the Shin Bet detained him at the airport and subjected him to a lie detector test, which he passed.
After marrying Rivka Pepperman in 2003 and starting a family, he began targeting a different sort of victim. In 2006 he distributed flyers in an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Jerusalem with an explanation of how to make Molotov Cocktails and called for violent action against the Gay Pride Parade in the capital that year.
Later that year, seeking revenge against the police, he placed an explosive device outside a police station in the settlement of Eli. The device was detonated by sappers. In 2007, Tytell, who was considered to be a self-taught expert bomb maker, laid a bomb outside a church near the city of Beit Shemesh, wounding a Palestinian tractor driver from a town south of Jerusalem.
On March 20, 2008 he left a booby-trapped basket of sweets, traditionally given during the Purim holiday, outside the door of David Ortiz in the settlement of Ariel. The family, he believed, were Jews who worked as Christian missionaries. The Ortiz’s 15 year-old son, Ami, opened the basket and absorbed the impact of hundreds of pieces of shrapnel. He was brought to the hospital in critical condition but survived.
In September 2008, Tytell, a father of four, built another improvised explosive device. This time he placed it outside the door of Israel Prize-winning professor Ze’ev Sternhell, who was wounded in the legs when he opened the door to his home.
Tytell later admitted that he had planned to fire a mortar at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, but ditched the plan for fear of injuring Jewish worshipers nearby.
Although he is often referred to as “the Jewish terrorist,” his killing spree, while long and uncommonly brutal, is not entirely unique. Jews have carried out several political murders in Israel and a slew of terror attacks against Arabs, most notably the 1994 murder of 29 Palestinians who had come to pray in the Tomb of the Patriarchs.
On May 4 2010, Jerusalem’s district psychiatrist deemed Tytell unfit to stand trial. The evaluation was criticized by Israeli-Arab Knesset members and following a new psychiatric evaluation, the district court overturned the previous ruling and in December 2011 declared Tytell “fit and capable of standing trial.”
In February 2012, the Jerusalem District Prosecutor’s Office and Tytell’s attorneys reached an agreement under which he would confess to two counts of murder and eight other charges.
Tytell’s attorneys confessed on his behalf, as Tytell himself declared he did not recognize the court’s jurisdiction.
Judge Moshe Drori wrote that Tytell recognized only “the rulings of the court of heaven.”
He will be sentenced in the coming weeks and will likely face a maximum sentence of life in prison.
A West Bank settler dubbed "The Jewish Terrorist" by the Israeli media was convicted on Wednesday of killing two Palestinians in 1997.
Yaakov "Jack" Tytell, a US immigrant to a settlement in the occupied West Bank, confessed to the killings. Efforts by his lawyers, one whom quoted him as saying he had been on a "mission from God", to have him declared insane failed.
The court convicted him of murdering a Palestinian taxi driver in Jerusalem and a shepherd in Hebron, while visiting the area as a tourist in 1997.
Tytell moved to Israel 12 years ago and in 2008 planted bombs that injured a left-wing Israeli academic and a teenager who belonged to a group of Jews who follow the teachings of Jesus.
He admitted to the series of attacks, and flashed a V-for-Victory sign at the hearing, where sentencing was set for next month.
After Tytell's arrest in 2009, he told investigators he had acted alone and was not part of any anti-Arab Jewish underground. He was detained by police while hanging posters in Jerusalem praising a still-unsolved shooting that year that killed two people at a community center for gay youngsters in Tel Aviv.
Court convicts 'Jewish Terrorist' of murder
Jerusalem District Court finds Jack Teitel to be sane, criminally responsible for murder of Palestinians between 1997-2008.
The Jerusalem District Court on Wednesday convicted the "Jewish Terrorist" Jack Teitel of murdering two Palestinians and an assortment of other crimes between 1997 and 2008.
Crucially, the court found that Teitel was not insane and was "responsible for his actions," which make it more likely that he will get a maximum life sentence.
In May, the court had accepted an unusual plea bargain made between the district attorney and lawyers representing Teitel, and determined that the defendant had murdered two Palestinians and committed other violent crimes.
Judges Zvi Segal, Moshe Hacohen and Moshe Yair Drori said that the court determined that Teitel committed the acts attributed to him in an amended indictment.
The amended indictment includes 10 of the original 14 charges against Teitel, including two murders and two attempted murders, after the prosecution agreed to remove charges relating to attempted attacks that the authorities had foiled and general language about Teitel's hatred for those disagreeing or different from him being the motivator for his crimes.
The court did not formally convict Teitel until Wednesday to carefully review whether he could be held criminally responsible for his actions when he committed the offenses.
Although he agreed to admit to the charges, Teitel refused to come and admit the charges directly to the court in-person because he does not recognize its authority.
Instead, in a highly unusual procedure that required special court approval, Teitel’s attorney Asher Ohayon told the court that Teitel admitted to the charges in the amended indictment.
Courts normally require an accused to admit to an offense in-person as a safeguard to the rights of an accused to make sure that the accused has not been coerced or is confused about what they are admitting to.
'Jewish terrorist' Jack Teitel convicted
Jerusalem District Court finds radical rightist guilty of two counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder; rules he was sane at time of the murders
Yaakov "Jack" Teitel, notoriously known as the "Jewish Terrorist," was convicted of the murder to two Palestinians and the attempted murder of two other people.
The conviction, rendered by the Jerusalem District Court on Wednesday, stated that Teitel was in full control of his faculties at the time of the murders, thus debunking the defense's repeated claims that he was legally insane and therefore should not be held responsible of his actions.
Teitel was arrested in 2009 and was held without bail ever since. The indictment against him consisted of 10 counts, including premeditated murder, attempted murder, illegal possession of firearms, arms manufacturing and incitement to violence.
During the trial, it was also revealed that the police and Shin Bet had information which directly pointed at Teitel as the prime suspect in a series of hate crimes, but he had somehow managed to slip through their fingers.
According to court transcripts, Teitel was convicted of the 1997 murder of Samir Akram, a Palestinian bus driver, who offered him a ride. Shortly after boarding the bus, Teitel instructed Akram to pull over to the side of the road, and shot him at point-black range.
He was also convicted of the 1997 murder of Issa Jabarin, a Palestinian shepherd. Teitel shot him twice in the chest, at close range.
Teitel was also found guilty of the 2008 attempted murder of then15-year-old Ami Ortiz. Teitel placed explosives in a package delivered to Ortiz' home, because he believed that the teen was the leader of a messianic cult. Ortiz suffered serious injuries as a result.
The court further found Teitel guilty of incitement to violence and terror, after he publicly pledged a NIS 20,000 (roughly $5,000) reward to anyone killing gay men and women and "ridding the earth of this Sodom and Gomorrah."
A flyer he printed and distributed to that effect offered detailed instructions on how to construct a Molotov cocktail.
He was also convicted of targeting Prominent Israeli historian Professor Ze'ev Sternhell in 2008 by planting a pipe bomb in a plant outside his house. Luckily, Sternhell was only lightly wounded.
In May 2012, after three years of consistent denials, Teitel confessed to his crimes. In an unusual move, the confession was signed and filed with the court by his two attorneys – as he stated that he refused to recognize the court's jurisdiction.
However, the State agreed to the defense's request to omit a part of the original indictment, which stated that he was motivated by his objection to groups or individuals whose lifestyles contrasted to his own.
‘Jewish terrorist’ convicted of double murder
Jerusalem court rejects US-born Jack Tytell’s insanity plea; sentence for killing of two Palestinians to be handed down later
An American-born Israeli Jew, a settler who killed two Palestinians and wounded two Israelis, was convicted Wednesday on two counts of first degree murder and a string of other hate crimes, including attempted murder and incitement to violence.
The Jerusalem District Court rejected psychiatric testimony on behalf of the defendant and found that Jack Tytell was legally responsible for the 10 crimes he had confessed to and therefore “has no defense” in the insanity plea submitted by his lawyers.
Judge Moshe Drori, the author of the decision, rejected claims that Tytell was delusional and had acted on the orders of angels, as his lawyers claimed. Citing Tytell’s police interrogation transcript, in which Tytell said he had come to Israel primarily to “revenge the deaths of Jews at the hands of our Arab enemies,” Drori noted that the defendant did not claim to have come on account of “a signal from God or an angel, neither in dreams nor in day dreams.”
He later noted in the 99-page ruling that Tytell chose to spare a child in 1997 and instead murdered what he felt was a more appropriate victim. “This is near positive proof that the angel theory didn’t exist and never was created,” Drori wrote in the unanimous decision.
Tytell, a 40 year-old native of Florida, committed his first murder as an American tourist living in Israel.
In May 1997, the court noted dryly, the “defendant decided to kill an Arab.” Tytell stopped a taxi driven by Samir Akram Balbisi of east Jerusalem and, after asking him to pull over, shot him in the back of the head, killing him.
Three months later he decided to kill again. He rented a car in Jerusalem, drove to the south Hebron town of Susiya and, after seeing a flock of goats, looked for a victim. He rejected a Palestinian child in the area, telling police investigators later that killing children was “not the American way.” Moments later he encountered Issa Jabarin, 57. He called him over to the car and shot him twice in the chest. Jabarin died of his wounds.
The police found that Tytell had lied about his address when renting the car and that the Fiat Punto had been seen in the precise vicinity of Jabarin’s murder, Yedioth Ahronoth reported in 2009. In addition, he had lied about his whereabouts and left for the US on a one-way ticket three days after the murder. Nonetheless, the police did not pursue the case against Tytell.
In 1999 he moved back to Israel, to the settlement of Shvut Rachel, and in 2000 became an Israeli citizen under the Law of Return, which grants Jews Israeli citizenship. In May 2000 the Shin Bet detained him at the airport and subjected him to a lie detector test, which he passed.
After marrying Rivka Pepperman in 2003 and starting a family, he began targeting a different sort of victim. In 2006 he distributed flyers in an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Jerusalem with an explanation of how to make Molotov Cocktails and called for violent action against the Gay Pride Parade in the capital that year.
Later that year, seeking revenge against the police, he placed an explosive device outside a police station in the settlement of Eli. The device was detonated by sappers. In 2007, Tytell, who was considered to be a self-taught expert bomb maker, laid a bomb outside a church near the city of Beit Shemesh, wounding a Palestinian tractor driver from a town south of Jerusalem.
On March 20, 2008 he left a booby-trapped basket of sweets, traditionally given during the Purim holiday, outside the door of David Ortiz in the settlement of Ariel. The family, he believed, were Jews who worked as Christian missionaries. The Ortiz’s 15 year-old son, Ami, opened the basket and absorbed the impact of hundreds of pieces of shrapnel. He was brought to the hospital in critical condition but survived.
In September 2008, Tytell, a father of four, built another improvised explosive device. This time he placed it outside the door of Israel Prize-winning professor Ze’ev Sternhell, who was wounded in the legs when he opened the door to his home.
Tytell later admitted that he had planned to fire a mortar at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, but ditched the plan for fear of injuring Jewish worshipers nearby.
Although he is often referred to as “the Jewish terrorist,” his killing spree, while long and uncommonly brutal, is not entirely unique. Jews have carried out several political murders in Israel and a slew of terror attacks against Arabs, most notably the 1994 murder of 29 Palestinians who had come to pray in the Tomb of the Patriarchs.
On May 4 2010, Jerusalem’s district psychiatrist deemed Tytell unfit to stand trial. The evaluation was criticized by Israeli-Arab Knesset members and following a new psychiatric evaluation, the district court overturned the previous ruling and in December 2011 declared Tytell “fit and capable of standing trial.”
In February 2012, the Jerusalem District Prosecutor’s Office and Tytell’s attorneys reached an agreement under which he would confess to two counts of murder and eight other charges.
Tytell’s attorneys confessed on his behalf, as Tytell himself declared he did not recognize the court’s jurisdiction.
Judge Moshe Drori wrote that Tytell recognized only “the rulings of the court of heaven.”
He will be sentenced in the coming weeks and will likely face a maximum sentence of life in prison.
