Neo-Nazis Arrested — In Israel (UPDATED)
September 9th, 2007
By JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief
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They often tell you that the best advice in real estate is “location, location, location.”
Someone should have also given that advice to some neo-Nazis who chose to operate….in Israel:
In a case that would seem unthinkable in the Jewish state, police said Sunday they have cracked a cell of young Israeli neo-Nazis accused in a string of attacks on foreign workers, religious Jews, drug addicts and gays.
Eight immigrants from the former Soviet Union have been arrested in recent days in connection with at least 15 attacks, and a ninth fled the country, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, in the first such known cell to be discovered in Israel.
The suspects are all in their early 20s or late teens. A court ordered them kept in custody, and the news photo shows them covering their faces with their clothing which merely helped showcase their myriad tattoos.
News of the arrests came as a shock in Israel, which was founded nearly 60 years ago as a refuge for Jews in the wake of the Nazi Holocaust and remains a most sensitive subject. Any forms of anti-Semitism around the world outrage Israelis, and the discovery of such violence in the country’s midst made the front pages of newspapers and dominated talk on morning radio shows.
The gang documented its activities on film and in photographs. Israeli TV stations showed grainy footage of people lying helpless on floors while several people kicked them, and of a man getting hit from behind on the head with an empty bottle.
And there is apparently evidence galore: weapons, explosives, a photo of one of the neo Nazis who chose to operate in a Jewish state holding a gun and a sign that says “Heil Hitler.” (See our post below on the funniest song in films).
Basically, it’s a skinhead group — although it looks like more of a bone-head group, given where they chose to conduct their operations.
Meanwhile, Israeli officials say the group’s existence shows societal failures — and are trying to ensure that Israelis do not start accusing Russian immigrants of being anti-Semitic (NOTE: This writer had a cousin from Russia who settled in Israel, although he later permanently relocated to Canada):
“Israel, as a society, failed in educating the youths discovered to be neo-Nazis,” Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in response to the arrest of eight Petach Tikva teenagers for membership in a neo-Nazi cell.
….A video documenting the youths’ neo-Nazi activities were screened at Sunday’s cabinet meeting, and the ministers were shocked by the chilling images.
“We saw the appalling documentation of violence for its own sake, suspected – and I stress, suspected – of being motivated by neo-Nazi ideology,” Olmert said in a statement. “I’m sure that no one in Israel is indifferent to these scenes, which demonstrate that we as a society have failed in educating these youths and distancing them from crazy and dangerous ideologies.”
“These incidents must be handled with the utmost severity, to create the proper deterrence so they are not repeated. However, I call on the public in this case: Let us not criminalize an entire population nor make generalizations. There is no need to seek solutions that apply to entire populations. I am sure the police and judicial system will handle this in the most fitting manner,” Olmert said.
…Absorption Minister Yaakov Edri also severely condemned the suspects. “They must be punished to the full extent of the law,” he said.
Edri stressed that this was a peripheral phenomenon. “Most Russian youths are normative, and have integrated well in the state’s systems. Many serve in the IDF and contribute to Israel’s strength. We must not vilify an entire population based on the behavior of one extremist group.”
One fact about this case is that evidence underscores how interconnected we all are: police computer experts learned they were in touch with Neo-Nazi groups abroad. These days anyone can get “networking” — even Neo-Nazis — over the internet. Israeli justice officials will likely say to heil with them..
UPDATE:
–Israel Matzav says the news reports are peppered with errors. Among them: the age of the Nazi wannabes (teens). He notes that neo-Nazis have been in the news in Israel before. He then points to the Prime Minister’s statement and has some choice words about that. Read his post IN FULL.
This entry was posted on Sunday, September 9th, 2007 at 8:37 am and is filed under Mideast, Nazis, Anti-Semitism, Israel. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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