With the arrest of a dozen residents of Yesha on vague charges of security-related crimes, talk is rife of a second Jewish underground. (The first underground, of some 30 members, was uncovered in April 1984). Many Yesha officials have urged caution, saying that such reports have been heard more than once over recent years and have turned out to be unfounded. Veteran Arutz-7 broadcaster Adir Zik told Israel Radio yesterday that experience has shown that the GSS tends to "exaggerate" charges, and sometimes even worse, against Jews in Yesha.
Only small amounts of information have been permitted for publication thus far. Two of the suspects, Yitzchak Pass and Mati Shvo, will be charged with unlawful possession of explosives, while another - Shachar Dvir - will be accused of attempting to kill Arabs and other charges. The remand of four of the suspects was extended for another eight days today.
Dvir's lawyer, Baruch Ben-Yosef - who is also representing three other suspects in the case, with whom he has not been allowed to meet - told Arutz-7 today, "Shachar is the only one who has confessed to anything, as far as I know, and this only to something very minor - that of possessing dynamite. Shachar also says that the others are not connected. I think that in the end it will be just like it was with Pass and Shvo, who were charged with much more minor things than was originally talked about."
Regarding the ban on his meeting with his other clients, Atty. Ben-Yosef said, "This is a farce, not a legal proceeding. The Shabak is using its tremendous power to keep them out of contact with their lawyer in order build up a case against those who, in my opinion, are innocent."
Security sources say that this is not a real underground with a unified command, but just a couple of cells unified by nothing more than a desire to carry out vengeance attacks. Even this charge has not yet been proven, of course. Veteran Yesha leader Pinchas Wallerstein, head of the Benjamin Regional Council for over two decades, said yesterday that it has not yet been shown that an organized anti-Arab underground exists, but that in any event, "we must uproot all such activity from our midst."
Some civil rights activists have pointed out that there is a conspicuous lack of involvement by civil rights organizations, perhaps due to the right-wing affiliation of the suspects.
Only small amounts of information have been permitted for publication thus far. Two of the suspects, Yitzchak Pass and Mati Shvo, will be charged with unlawful possession of explosives, while another - Shachar Dvir - will be accused of attempting to kill Arabs and other charges. The remand of four of the suspects was extended for another eight days today.
Dvir's lawyer, Baruch Ben-Yosef - who is also representing three other suspects in the case, with whom he has not been allowed to meet - told Arutz-7 today, "Shachar is the only one who has confessed to anything, as far as I know, and this only to something very minor - that of possessing dynamite. Shachar also says that the others are not connected. I think that in the end it will be just like it was with Pass and Shvo, who were charged with much more minor things than was originally talked about."
Regarding the ban on his meeting with his other clients, Atty. Ben-Yosef said, "This is a farce, not a legal proceeding. The Shabak is using its tremendous power to keep them out of contact with their lawyer in order build up a case against those who, in my opinion, are innocent."
Security sources say that this is not a real underground with a unified command, but just a couple of cells unified by nothing more than a desire to carry out vengeance attacks. Even this charge has not yet been proven, of course. Veteran Yesha leader Pinchas Wallerstein, head of the Benjamin Regional Council for over two decades, said yesterday that it has not yet been shown that an organized anti-Arab underground exists, but that in any event, "we must uproot all such activity from our midst."
Some civil rights activists have pointed out that there is a conspicuous lack of involvement by civil rights organizations, perhaps due to the right-wing affiliation of the suspects.