5 soccer hooligans suspected of attempting to murder rival fan

Five people who were arrested in overnight nationwide raids as part of a crackdown on violence in Israeli sports saw their detention extended on Tuesday for a week on suspicion of attempted murder.

Police arrested a total of 56 people linked to the Beitar Jerusalem soccer team late Monday and early Tuesday, including 47 members of “La Familia,” an ultra-nationalist group of fans.

Following an operation that saw a former member who turned state’s evidence infiltrate the group for over six months, the La Familia members were detained on suspicion of selling weapons, various acts of violence and smuggling firecrackers onto soccer fields, police said.

Five of those arrested are accused of trying to kill Yuri Saldotzky, a fan of rival soccer club Hapoel Tel Aviv with an ax during a brawl in October last year. The suspects were identified as Assi Bassano, Yoav Nahshon, Omer Golan and Matan Shimon, with a fifth person not named.

“We are investigating a number of incidents involving very serious violence,” a police spokeswoman told The Times of Israel.

The 32-year-old Hapoel fan was ambushed by Beitar supporters as he alighted from a bus in Tel Aviv’s Florentine neighborhood on October 3, 2015. During the skirmish he was struck in the head with an ax which became lodged in his skull. He was taken to the Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, where he received emergency surgery to remove the ax.

During the raids, carried out by over 400 officers across the country, police seized 20 stun grenades, a kilogram of explosives, two gas grenades, two smoke grenades, 19 improvised grenades, and 29 flares.

Forty-seven of the detainees were suspected of links to a radical sub-group of La Familia named as “Hakometz.” A further nine were arrested on drug-related offenses.

Nine IDF soldiers, including one officer, were among those arrested.

Police said further arrests were in the offing.

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan hailed the conclusion of the “complex operation” by the Israel Police, which he said represented the “height of efforts to combat violence in sports.”

On Twitter, the minister also underlined that a new police unit would be dedicated to gathering intelligence and enforcing the law on sports-linked violence.

The La Familia soccer fan club has a reputation for anti-Arab racism and violence.

In May 2013, the Jerusalem District Court convicted two soccer fans for torching the Beitar Jerusalem team’s offices in protest of the club signing two Chechen Muslim players.

The decision came after Evyatar Yosef, 21, and Matan Navon, 23, pleaded guilty under a plea bargain for the arson attack. Under the deal, the two admitted to all charges but did not identify themselves as members of La Familia.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.