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Members of the neo-Nazi cell arrested one month ago. (Reproduction: Tomer Appelbaum)
Last update - 07:20 10/09/2007
Suspected neo-Nazis remanded; indictments expected Monday
By Roni Singer-Heruti, Anshel Pfeffer and Yair Ettinger, Haaretz Correspondents
Tags: Neo Nazis, Israel 

Eight young men suspected of neo-Nazi activities were remanded to custody for another three days by the Ramle Magistrate's Court Sunday. They are expected to be indicted Monday in the Tel Aviv District Court.

The eight cannot actually be charged with neo-Nazi activities, because, paradoxically, such activities are not illegal under Israeli law. However, they will be charged with incitement to racism, causing grievous bodily harm and various other crimes.

Handcuffed and covering their faces, the eight arrived at the court Sunday to find a large crowd waiting, shouting abuse and spitting.
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"It is not us in the photos," shouted Arik Bunyatov, who is suspected of being the leader of the neo-Nazi cell, in response. "I am not a Nazi!"

The other suspects, however, have admitted to being involved in neo-Nazi activities, police investigators said. They are Iliya Bondenko, 21, from Petah Tikva; Alex Flich, 19, from Karnei Shomron; Kyril Bolenko, 18, from Holon; Vladimir Nizovadze, 18, from Bat Yam; and three minors aged 16 and 17 from Petah Tikva, whose identities are protected by law.

A ninth suspect - Dima Bugativ, 21, a soldier serving in the Israel Defense Forces - managed to escape abroad a month ago.

"There is no organization involved, and the police have blown the story out of proportion for the sake of receiving press coverage," said Eli Masterman, Bondenko's attorney, on Sunday. "My client rejects the charges against him, and the fact is that the judge released him and the rest of them last Thursday because he decided they do not pose a threat."

However, the district court overruled this decision on appeal and ordered the eight suspects placed in custody.

The police investigation into the alleged neo-Nazi cell began a year ago, following two incidents of vandalism against Petah Tikva synagogues. The investigation focused on two main suspects: Bunyatov and Bondenko. Police detectives found neo-Nazi materials on both their computers, and this expanded the probe into new directions.

"The materials we found were difficult to watch," the head of the investigation, Superintendent Yigal Ben Shalom, said Sunday. The video clips found on the computers showed the suspects, along with other people dressed in typical skinhead, neo-Nazi clothes, in the process of assaulting their victims.

These videos led detectives working on the case to suspect that the gang had attacked dozens of people in the Tel Aviv area, mostly foreign workers and drug addicts. In one video, they are seen approaching a foreign worker as he is talking on a public telephone, punching him in the face and breaking a bottle over his head. Violently loud music accompanies each clip, and between segments, the suspects spliced swastikas and other Nazi symbols.

According to the material on their computers, the suspects also planned to celebrate Adolf Hitler's birthday at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum and memorial.

However, despite the fact that the videos suggest a series of violent attacks, only one complaint against the gang has actually been filed with the police. This fact, combined with the fact that most of the evidence against the suspects consists of electronic material taken from their computers, may make it difficult for the prosecution to convict them on serious charges.

Neo-Nazi threat spurs proposals to change Law of Return
The media and public feeding frenzy that has followed reports on the arrest of alleged neo-Nazis in Petah Tikva has given rise to political debate on the Law of Return, with MKS from across the political spectrum Sunday weighing in on whether it should be amended to prevent neo-Nazis from immigrating to Israel.

In its current format, the law permits anyone who is Jewish according to halakha, religious law, or their relatives (including grandchildren) to immigrate to Israel. One proposal made Sunday would amend the law to bar prospective immigrants with no concrete connection to their own Judaism.

MK Zevulun Orlev (National Union-National Religious Party) has long supported a bill that would permit the revocation of citizenship and the deportation of neo-Nazis, as well as striking from the Law of Return the clause enabling the otherwise not halakhically Jewish grandchildren of Jews to immigrate and obtain citizenship. "When it comes to a grandchild, we are talking about the second generation of non-Jews," Orlev says, "and that person's distance from Judaism is great ... It undermines the Jewish character of the state."

MK Colette Avital (Labor) supports legislation allowing for the revocation of citizenship on the grounds of neo-Nazi activity, but currently is not in favor of changing citizenship requirements.

MK Yossi Beilin (Meretz-Yahad) is adamantly opposed to changing the law. "Israel's door must be much broader, not closer to halakhic definitions," he said Sunday. "There is no reason that the children and grandchildren, and even great grandchildren [of Jews], cannot immigrate, and recently we have had cases of great grandchildren who want to come."

Opposition to amending the Law of Return also came from the other side of the political spectrum. "If we do not let grandchildren immigrate, it will hurt thousands of people who grew up in Jewish families, with a clear connection to Judaism, and who suffered from anti-Semitism," said MK Zeev Elkin (Kadima).

Elkin believes that changes to the Jewish Agency's immigration encouragement policies would be sufficient to keep out "undesirable" immigrants- non-Jews and those with a minimal attachment to Judaism. Elkin, a former consultant to the head of the Jewish Agency, says the organization focuses its immigration efforts on remote areas of the former Soviet Union, where the population is poorer. It is more difficult to persuade Jews in the larger cities, where economic conditions are better, to come to Israel, he noted
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  1.   The Law of Return 05:14  |  Rabbi Yakov Lazaros 10/09/07
  2.   neo nazis 05:35  |  david tepper 10/09/07
  3.   KICK THEM OUT 06:00  |  Commonsense 10/09/07
  4.   Haaretz censorship 06:32  |  Alex 10/09/07
  5.   Tip of the Icberg 06:46  |  Alex 10/09/07
  6.   Cria cuervos 06:57  |  Niva dos santos 10/09/07
  7.   Toothless Israeli law enforcement 07:33  |  MarkC 10/09/07
  8.   Nazis welcom in Israel? 07:33  |  Neil 10/09/07
  9.   How many non-Jew Russians are there in Israel 07:46  |  keith 10/09/07
  10.   #3 commonsense "KICK THEM OUT" 07:54  |  keith 10/09/07
  11.   neo-Nazis 08:05  |  yoel 10/09/07
  12.   The issue is blown out of proportions 08:18  |  Alex 10/09/07
  13.   #5 Alex - Thank you so much for excellent website 08:20  |  Canadian Otter 10/09/07
  14.   To Rabbi Yakov Lazaros 08:27  |  Tamar 10/09/07
  15.   ISRAEL :WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD 08:30  |  R.Esurgent 10/09/07
  16.   JEWISH NAZIS???!?!! LOOOOOL 08:31  |  God bless them 10/09/07
  17.   Nazi scourge tolerated in Israel 08:37  |  rosy 10/09/07
  18.   Neo Nazis Back to the hellhole they came from. 08:43  |  USA 10/09/07
  19.   Old News 09:00  |  Nicole 10/09/07
  20.   Chomsky, Stanley cohen, Norman Finkestein and the law of return 09:02  |  enrique 10/09/07
  21.   Why is it not reported that . . . 09:31  |  Wendy 10/09/07
  22.   to all Israeli residents (Foreing residents keep your nose out) 09:52  |  Puhi 10/09/07
  23.   kick em out 09:52  |  jo moor 10/09/07
  24.   Not much difference with Lieberman and most likudniks, right? 09:55  |  John 10/09/07
  25.   Preserve Israeli pluralism - admit all nazis 10:01  |  D Hirod 10/09/07
  26.   suspected neo-nazis in ISRAEL 10:04  |  JOUAN VIALET Elisabe 10/09/07
  27.   Just a natural continuation of racism in Israel 10:06  |  panoptikon 10/09/07
  28.   treat them like any nazi scum 10:06  |  cole younger 10/09/07
  29.   to self-proclaimed "rabbi" Lazaros 10:17  |  ziggurat 10/09/07
  30.   to John #20...no difference with Holland racists 10:20  |  Alain 10/09/07
  31.   To all the antisemites and their supporters... 10:24  |  Hastaroth 10/09/07
  32.   at wendy... 11:03  |  shimon 10/09/07
  33.   No News 11:05  |  AM 10/09/07
  34.   Weird behavior.... 11:13  |  Simon Jenkins 10/09/07
  35.   rascist jews?? 11:14  |  steve 10/09/07
  36.   Nazies inIsrael 11:15  |  Victor ben-Zvi 10/09/07
  37.   Waht about Neturei Karta ? 11:17  |  Benjamin 10/09/07
  38.   Wendy in Jerusalem 11:25  |  Simon Jenkins 10/09/07
  39.   #20 john loves zionists and now nazis he is absurd 11:25  |  victor hardman 10/09/07
  40.   to temporary state of Israel 11:45  |  Imad 10/09/07
  41.   The Law of R 11:52  |  ibbaR 10/09/07
  42.   `to temporary state of Israel` 11:58  |  Simon Jenkins 10/09/07
  43.   Don`t believe everything you read 12:25  |  Stephen Connor 10/09/07
  44.   CENSORS!!!! REMOVE # 16!!! 12:30  |  Stephen Connor 10/09/07
  45.   "...Vladimir Nizovadze, 18, from Bat Yam..." UNBELIEVABLE... 12:33  |  bat yam 10/09/07
  46.   No.20 12:35  |  Stella 10/09/07
  47.   My support to the MKs´ wise reflections 12:44  |  Alice of Wonderland 10/09/07
  48.   Just shows you how antisemitic Israel is.... 12:47  |  Brian 10/09/07
  49.   neo nazis (#25) 12:51  |  Bill 10/09/07
  50.   What a conundrum! 13:03  |  Steve 10/09/07
  51.   # Simon Jenkins et al 13:05  |  AM 10/09/07
  52.   Send them as settlers to Hebron 13:10  |  Wajnberg 10/09/07
  53.   Cut from the same cloth as settlers 13:27  |  Tim 10/09/07
  54.   #51 am one swallow doth not a summer make 13:45  |  victor hardman 10/09/07
  55.   Neo-Nazies less dangerous than Reform Jews? 13:46  |  Uri 10/09/07
  56.   To Alain: So true. 13:51  |  John 10/09/07
  57.   Mr AM in London 14:07  |  Simon Jenkins 10/09/07
  58.   haaretz censorshipt o Alex 14:21  |  Jim 10/09/07
  59.   Throw them out of Israel together with their parents 14:25  |  Yelena 10/09/07
  60.   Uri.#55 What about atheists and agnostics? 14:27  |  Yoni Allon 10/09/07
  61.   Ethiopian aliyah is being cut off, why not Russian? 14:28  |  Tova M. 10/09/07
  62.   send them back to Russia ASAP - 14:36  |  Nicole 10/09/07
  63.   Neo Nazis 14:45  |  Sooley 10/09/07
  64.   @ 16 Sometimes wearing the "right" beard... 14:52  |  Karl 10/09/07
  65.   Simon Jenkins 15:01  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 10/09/07
  66.   Imad 15:02  |  I`m mad too 10/09/07
  67.   Neil 15:06  |  Israeli 10/09/07
  68.   TIM.Compared to the genocidal Hamas wannabees.The Pal government. 15:14  |  PETER S.M. 10/09/07
  69.   import of nazis 15:17  |  Zvi 10/09/07