Sunday, September 09, 2007

Israeli neo-Nazi ring busted

In the bizarre news of the day Israeli police have arrested Israeli neo-Nazis who were targeting religious Jews, foreign workers, drug addicts and gays:

Eight immigrants from the former Soviet Union have been arrested in recent days in connection with at least 15 attacks, and a ninth fled the country, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, in the first such known cell to be discovered in Israel.

All the suspects are in their late teens or early 20s and have Israeli citizenship, Rosenfeld said.

[...]

The gang documented its activities on film and in photographs. Israeli TV stations showed grainy footage of people lying helpless on floors while several people kicked them, and of a man getting hit from behind on the head with an empty bottle.

Police found knives, spiked balls, explosives and other weapons in the suspects' possession, Rosenfeld said. One photo that was seized showed one suspect holding an M16 rifle in one hand and in the other, a sign reading "Heil Hitler," he added.

[...]

Police discovered the skinhead ring after investigating the desecration of two synagogues that were sprayed with swastikas in the central Israeli city of Petah Tikva more than a year ago, Rosenfeld said.
Why align yourself with a group that considers you subhuman? Just doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

Update: Evidently, we shouldn't be surprised by this story since this is not the first neo-Nazi group discovered in Israel.