Fourth suspected member of Jewish terror cell released

The Jerusalem Post ^ | 8 September 2003 | ETGAR LEFKOVITS

[anotherview]

Sep. 8, 2003
Fourth suspected member of Jewish terror cell released
By ETGAR LEFKOVITS

For the fourth time in the last two weeks, an Israeli suspected of being a member of a Jewish terror cell that was allegedly behind a series of attacks against Arabs over the last three years was released from custody Monday by order of the Jerusalem Magistrate's court.

The suspect, IDF soldier Chaggai Avikar of the West Bank settlement of Sussia near Hebron, was arrested ten days ago on suspicion of various weapons-related crimes, as well as conspiring to commit a crime, security officials said.

Avikar's movements will be restricted until the investigation against him is completed, the court ruled Monday. With his release, the number of Jewish suspects remaining in custody in the high profile but still murky security case, now stands at eight. Three other suspects had been released on condition over the past two weeks, including two placed under house arrest.

Last month, security officials announced that a group of nine Israelis arrested over the last few weeks in a series of Shin Bet raids on West Bank settlements are suspected of being part of a Jewish terrorist cell behind a series of attacks on Arabs over the last three years.

However, only two of the suspects arrested so far have been indicted, and both were charged with the more minor offenses of transporting and carrying stolen explosives.

Most of the details in the case cannot be published due to a court-imposed gag order, but police said last month that one of the men is suspected of murder.

Nine Palestinians have been killed in attacks attributed to Jewish extremists during the last three years.

Security officials said last month that one of the suspects in the case, Shahar Dvir-Zeliger, broke down during his interrogation on Tisha Be'av, the Jewish fast day marking the destruction of the two Temples, and incriminated the rest of the suspects.

But at a remand hearing last week, it became increasingly apparent that there are sharp differences in opinion over the reliability of what security officials called incriminating evidence supplied by Dvir-Zeliger against the other suspects in the case.

[anotherview]

Israel takes action against those who would take illegal action, violent action, against the Palestinians. Of course, Israel is a country governed by the rule of law, and if there is insufficient evidence and the cannot be convicted, the do get released.

Tell me: when was the last time the P.A. arrested a Palestinian for planning terrorist attacks against Israel? Yet the world condemns Israel. The double standard never ceases to amaze me, even though it has never changed.

[zacyak]

It speaks well of Israel that they pursue the rule of law; now if we can only get the PLO to do the same...not holding my breath for that, however.