Last update - 00:00 05/12/2006
Court unanimously rejects appeal by Jewish terrorist
By Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondent and Haaretz Service
A three-Justice panel of the Supreme Court of Justice on Tuesday rejected unanimously an appeal by right-wing activist Shachar Dvir-Zeliger against his conviction on six counts, including membership in a terror group and the illegal possession of arms.
The court also rejected Dvir-Zeliger's appeal against his sentence.
Dvir-Zeliger, of the Adei-Ad outpost near the West Bank city of Ramallah, was convicted two years ago of stealing rifles and explosives from the Israel Defense Forces, of conspiring to carry out terror attacks against Arabs and of illegal possession of arms.
His accomplices Yitzhak Pas and Matityahu Shebo were also convicted for the same charges.
The Jerusalem District Court sentenced Dvir-Zeliger to eight years and an additional two years' suspended sentence.
According to the sentence, Zeliger took eight bricks of explosives from Yitzhak Pas for an attempted bombing of a Muslim girls' school in the A-Tor neighborhood in East Jerusalem.
Justices Edmond Levy, Esther Hayut and David Cheshin decided to reject Dvir-Zeliger's appeal against the investigation procedures employed by the Shin Bet security service during his questioning, and also rejected his appeal against the severity of his sentence.
"His membership in a terror group attests to the fact his is a menace to the public," Levy wrote in the ruling, "hence Zeliger's crimes must be considered to be very severe."
"Based on this conclusion, [Zeliger's] sentence is appropriate," he wrote.
In sentencing Dvir-Zeliger, the District Court took into account the fact he was the only member of the terror cell to collaborate with his interrogators.
Dvir-Zeliger led the security services to expose a large cache of arms of the Jewish terror group in Adei Ad, which included three LAU anti-tank missiles, three rifles, submachine guns and hand grenades, thousands of rounds, explosives and bomb fuses.
Dvir-Zeliger is the first Jew convicted of membership in a terror group under the Order on Terror Prevention since the members of the Jewish Underground were jailed in the 1980s. His brother, Shlomi Dvir, a member of the Bat Ayin terror cell, was convicted of placing a booby-trapped baby cart at the said Muslim girls' school.