The Ramle Magistrate Court remanded eight young Petach Tikva
residents suspected of belonging to a neo-Nazi organization.
Police told the court the prosecution would soon issue
indictments against the gang members, ages 16 to 21.
According to suspicions the group members, immigrants from
former Soviet countries, brutally assaulted dozens of Jews
wearing yarmulkes, as well as minorities, foreign
workers and drug addicts. They would stalk their victims near
the Central Bus Station and the Carmel Market in Tel Aviv.
Conversations among the gang members opened with the words,
"Heil Hitler." They documented their acts in photographs and
videos. Police also suspect that gang members were involved
in vandalism attacks on two botei knesses in Petach
Tikva last year. During questioning, the suspects confessed
to the crimes attributed to them, but claimed they were
"drawn in" by other youths.
The incident was first exposed a year ago during an
investigation of acts of vandalism at Beis Haknesses Hagodol
in Petach Tikva, where swastikas were spray-painted in the
aron kodesh and the name "Hitler" and neo-Nazi slogans
were scrawled elsewhere.
During the investigation, which has lasted for several
months, police investigated over 20 youths who were in
contact with the suspects, primarily via email. The suspects'
parents were also interrogated and said they knew nothing of
their sons' activities. The suspects included Rostislav
Bogoslavsky, who was arrested several months ago on suspicion
that he murdered two people in Petach Tikva in addition to
hundreds of cats. The investigators found that Bogoslavsky
had collaborated with two of the gang members in several acts
of vandalism at botei knesses in the city.
According to police, "All of the suspects are immigrants from
the former Soviet Union and all of them immigrated based on
the Law of Return, but their ties to Judaism are very loose,
through grandparents or distant relatives." Explosives were
found in the home of one of the suspects, but his plans
remain unknown. Most of the suspects studied or still study
in schools and one of them, who managed to flee the country,
even served in the IDF for several months.
The affair has shaken the political establishment and sparked
public debate. "The members of the neo-Nazi underground are a
cancer eating away at Israeli society," said Deputy Prime
Minister and Minister of Commerce and Industry Eli Yishai. He
called on Interior Minister Meir Shetreet to revoke the
suspects' citizenship immediately and to deport them.
