Yaakov “Jack” Teitel, who has been dubbed “the Jewish terrorist,” was sentenced Tuesday to two life sentences plus 30 years in prison. Teitel was convicted on two counts of murder and three of attempted murder.
The American-born Teitel was also ordered to pay his victims 560,000 shekels in compensation.
Three months ago, the High Court ruled that Teitel bears full responsibility for his actions, and cannot claim insanity as a defense. The justices noted that Teitel had been violent, both toward animals and people, long before he committed the murders he was convicted for.
“It is clear that the accused got a large measure of enjoyment from this violence,” they said.
They also noted “the precise planning and extreme cunning” demonstrated by Teitel and his lack of a known background of psychological illness as evidence that his crimes were not motivated by mental illness.
Teitel was convicted of the murders of two Palestinian Authority resident Arabs in 1997, a bombing targeting a Christian family in Ariel, a bombing at the home of far-left professor Zev Sternhell and more. He confessed to all of the crimes.
Teitel also confessed to other attacks, including the murders of two police officers and a fatal shooting at a gay center in Tel Aviv, but police found that he had not committed either crime.