Minggu, 09 September 2007

'Revoke citizenships, deport Neo-Nazis'

MK Zevulun Orlev (NU-NRP) will present the plenum with a bill calling to revoke the citizenships of neo-Nazis in Israel and deport them once they have completed their sentences. Orlev, who is expected to present the bill when the Knesset returns to its proceedings after its summer recess, said that the actions of a gang of neo-Nazis arrested in Petah Tikva were alarming and that the state must deal with them decisively. Israel must set an example for the world against anti-Semitism, he added.



In the past, NU NRP members have tried to advance bills that would revoke parts of the law of return, but have always failed.

MK Effi Eitam echoed his party member's concern over the matter saying that he also planned to present the plenum with a recommendation to make an amendment to the Law of Return. According to Eitam, Israel has turned into a safe haven for people who store a hatred of Jews and a hatred of Israel in their hearts by taking advantage of a loophole in the Law of Return.

MK Ahmed Tibi of United Arab List-Ta'al called on authorities to deal with the gang harshly.

Tibi called the phenomenon "horrifying" and "outrageous," but indicated that the youths received automatic citizenship under the Law of Return while residents of Taiba and Nazareth cannot become united with their partners just because they are Arabs.

This was the reflection of the definition of a democratic Jewish state, added Tibi.

On Saturday, police announced that they cracked a neo-Nazi ring composed of immigrants from the former Soviet Union operating in the Petah Tikva area, following the arrests of alleged gang members and the lifting of a gag order on the case.

The arrests followed a more than yearlong investigation by the youth crimes division of the Central District Central Investigative Unit.

Police described the affair as "complex and sensitive," revealing that a group of youths acted on the basis of Nazi ideology.

Police emphasized that all of the youths - except for one - were Israeli citizens who had made aliya under the Law of Return. The majority, police said, were immigrants who lived in the center of the country and identified religiously as Christians.

Police have thus far arrested nine members of the group, who, according to suspicions, worked to propagate Hitler's ideology in the streets of Israel, while establishing relations with neo-Nazi groups overseas and attempting to imitate their activities.

Eli Boanitov, a 19-year-old Petah Tikva resident, allegedly headed the group, which police said displayed "cult-like characteristics."

As the group's leader, Boanitov allegedly selected people for membership and served as the group's instructor and main propagator of Nazi ideology both on an ideological and operational level. Police said Boanitov "led them to attack, in a cruel and brutal manner, citizens and innocent people belonging to various groups including Asians, drug addicts, gays, punks and kippa-wearing Jews."

In the police report, Boanitov was quoted as saying, "I'll never give up. I was a Nazi and I'll stay a Nazi. Until we kill all of them, I won't relax."

The group was uncovered during the investigation into two 2006 incidents in Petah Tikva in which synagogues were desecrated by swastikas and other graffiti.

Police spokesmen said Saturday night that "because of the severity of the incidents, the great public interest and the importance of apprehending these suspects, then-Central District Commander (now police chief) Insp.-Gen. David Cohen assigned the investigation to the elite CIU's youth crimes team, led by Ch.-Supt. Revital Almog."

Police said that their big break came in June 2007.

Information received by police directed them to the group of suspects. Initial checks on two of the youths - Boanitov (nicknamed Eli the Nazi), and 20-year-old Ilya Bondranenko - detectives said, increased their suspicions, and the two were taken in for questioning.

Under questioning, Boanitov and Bondranenko denied all of the allegations against them, but following searches of their houses, police recovered Nazi materials including journals with sketches of swastikas, Web sites with Nazi content and neo-Nazi movies, including a German-language film about Nazism in America.

On the suspects' cell phones, police discovered pictures in which the suspects were engaging in Nazi salutes and, in one picture, one of the suspects was seen holding a torn Israeli flag.

The suspects were also sporting numerous Nazi-associated tattoos including "White Power" accompanied by Celtic crosses and a barbed-wire fence. The number 88 were tattooed on members' fingers, with police explaining that "8" represents the ordinal place of the letter "H," thus standing for "HH" or Heil Hitler.

The suspects were first arrested on July 23, and were released to house arrest on July 31.

Police said that the more advanced stages of the investigation were largely successful due to the "professional and determined work" of the Central District Fraud Squad's Computer Crimes Unit, which labored to reconstruct deleted files that the suspects allegedly concealed and deleted from their computers.

"The evidence spoke for itself and strengthened the need for investigation because of suspicions of racism," said police, describing the computer material as pictures and movies that were "difficult to view." The evidence documents members of the gang attacking what police describe as "helpless people" belonging to minority groups.

"In the movies, one can see gang members punching and kicking, using broken bottles and everything at hand, attacking innocent victims without any prior contact or instigation," said police spokesmen.

In the movies, the faces of the suspects are frequently hidden by superimposed swastikas and at times, the suspects are seen wearing Nazi-style uniforms and delivering Nazi salutes, as well as delivering statements calling for the burning and destruction of the Jewish people.

Police documented computer conversations allegedly carried out between Boanitov and others in which he both confirms and takes pride in his participation in neo-Nazi activity, as well as inspiring others to join though explaining racial-purity theory and justifying assaults on Jews and minorities.
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