A spokesman for the Shai (Shomron-Yehuda) District of Israel Police on Wednesday morning 12 Nissan announced suspects who allegedly are part of a “Jewish terror network” in the area of Yishuv Nachliel in the Binyamin Regional Council of the Shomron have been taken into custody. The arrests were the result of a joint investigation between police and the ISA (Israel Security Agency – Shin Bet).

During the second half of 2015 there were a number of attacks against Palestinians in the Gush Talmonim area of the Binyamin Council, not far from Nachliel. Homes of the Palestinians were targeted in these attacks. Intelligence information police explain have led them to the discovery of a Jewish terror network based in that area, in the western district of the regional council.

The investigation was launched in the beginning of April. The spokesman’s report states suspects admitted to “extensive terrorist activities by the organization including arson and vandalizing Palestinian-owed vehicles. There were also rock-throwing attacks against Arab drivers.

The suspects have reconstructed the events in the field and have confessed to be a part of what is described as a “radical and violent organization that systematically hurt Palestinians and their property with the full awareness of the possibility of harm to human life, even after the arson attack in Duma” the police statement reads.

The main suspects in the case are:

· M.C., a minor born in 1999 and a resident of Nachliel

· B.S., a minor born in 2000 and a resident of Nachliel

· A 19-year-old soldier and Nachliel resident. (Release of his name banned by military court)

· Pinchas Sandorfi, 22, married and a resident of Kiryat Arba

· Itamar Ben-Aaron, 20, a resident of Nachliel

· Michael Kaplan, 20, a resident of Nachliel

The police report adds they executed the following attacks:

· November 30, 2015: Attacking an Arab farmer with clubs and pepper spray

· November 20, 2015: Hurling firebombs at a home in Zara Qabliya during the night while the family slept. Graffiti was written on the walls saying “Revenge”, “Death to Arabs” and “Jews awaken”.

· December 22, 2015: IDF gas grenades were fired at an occupied home in Bitilu to avenge the arrests of suspects in the Duma arson attack. The father awakened from the smoke and noise and got his wife and their infant child out. After that attack “Revenge, regards from prisoners of Tzion” graffiti was left near the home.

· October 2, 2015: Arson attack against an Arab vehicle in Bitilu.

· October 2014: Arson attack against a vehicle in Bitilu.

Police believe the members of this organization acted out of “extreme ideological conviction and are willing to strike out at Palestinians, even to the point of murdering them”. Police also cite a link between the organization’s members and the Givonim (residents of Givon Shomron) activists, based on intelligence data gathered.

The Lod District Court has released two suspects to house arrest. Honenu attorney Adi Kedar states “My clients do not have a criminal record. The alleged acts occurred years ago, prompting the question why the sudden major police interest in the incidents today.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)