Jewish terror suspects cop to lesser charges under plea deal

Murder indictments dropped against 6 alleged extremists, who instead face jail for arson, assault, vandalism

Members of a suspected Jewish terrorist group in Israel will not be charged with murder after the state prosecution agreed to a plea deal Wednesday. They will instead face lengthy jail sentences for lesser crimes.

In April, the Shin Bet security service uncovered and arrested at least six members of the Jewish terror network, who are suspected of carrying out a number of attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.

Initially, the cell faced charges of attempted murder for an arson attack on a Palestinian home in the village of Beitillu, near Ramallah. Now the attempted murder charges have been dropped, and the prosecution will instead seek long jail sentences for lesser crimes, Channel 2 reported.

According to the report, the plea deal stems from the fact that there is very little direct evidence for a conviction, with most of the case based on the confessions of alleged cell members.

The terror ring was allegedly inspired by the July 2015 arson attack on the Dawabsha home in Duma, in which the mother, father and baby of the family were killed and the 5-year-old son sustained major burns.

A Palestinian man stands near the broken window of a house that was sprayed with graffiti reading "revenge" and "hello from the prisoners of Zion", in a suspected Jewish terror attack in the village of Beitillu, near Ramallah in the West Bank on December 22, 2015. (Flash90) — A Palestinian man stands near the broken window of a house that was sprayed with graffiti reading “revenge” and “hello from the prisoners of Zion”, in a suspected Jewish terror attack in the village of Beitillu, near Ramallah in the West Bank on December 22, 2015. (Flash90)

According to the Shin Bet, “Reenactments in the field and the confessions of the suspects revealed a violent and extremist network, which systematically attacked Palestinians and their property while fully aware of the possibility of killing someone, even after the results of the arson in Duma, and were even inspired by it.”

The Shin Bet listed the principal suspects as two minors, one born in 1999 and the other in 2000. Other suspects include an unnamed IDF soldier; Itamar Ben Aharon and Michael Kaplan, both aged 20 and both from the settlement of Nahliel; and Pinhas Shandorfi, 22, a resident of the settlement of Kiryat Arba.

Instead of attempted murder, one of the minors will face 11 charges including arson, aggravated assault, destruction of property and carrying weapons. Prosecutor will seek a seven-year jail sentence for him.

The soldier, who is accused of providing the group with tear gas grenades, faces six years in prison, while another self-confessed member of the cell will potentially be jailed for three years. The defense could still challenge these sentences, Channel 2 said.