FBI to help Israeli prosecution in case against right-wing activist

The FBI agreed to help Israel prosecute an Israeli-American citizen suspected of organizing and managing resistance to Israeli outpost demolitions in the West Bank, as well as a riot at an IDF base in December 2011.

Akiva Cohen, a dual citizen, was one of the main suspects arrested after a mob consisting of dozens of right-wing activists broke into a regional command base of the IDF in the West Bank.

Cohen had been followed by the FBI for some time, and the American enforcement agency was ready to help prosecute him in Israel, Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Tuesday.

In a rare agreement between the two bodies, the Israeli prosecution and FBI agreed to swap information regarding Cohen. Among the evidence being transferred to the US was information regarding his computer, officials told the paper.

Cohen and four others were charged with holding military information, which they allegedly received through a network of informers and used to try to prevent planned evacuations of illegal West Bank outposts. The five were also believed to have organized a riot in the Efraim base, during which a brigade commander was injured by a brick thrown at his head.