Far-right activist convicted of membership in terror group

The Jerusalem Magistrates Court convicted right-wing activist Shahar Dvir Zeliger on Wednesday of membership in a terrorist organization that aimed to carry out terror attacks against Arab civilians.

Zeliger was also convicted of a number of additional transgressions, including conspiring to carry out shooting attacks on vehicles belonging to Arabs, possession of a phosphorous grenade and explosive device, arms trade, and unlawful possession of weapons and ammunition.

Wednesday's ruling was the first case in which a court has convicted an Israeli Jew of membership in a terrorist organization since a number of individuals belonging to the Jewish Underground were convicted of several crimes in the 1980s.

Judge Yoram Noam ruled in favor of acquiting Zeliger of charges of breaking into a building and stealing weapons, arguing that it was likely that someone else stole the weapons. Noam also acuited Zeliger of possession of TNT.

Prosecutor Dan Eldad, from the Jerusalem district of the State Prosecutor's Office, said after the ruling that, "This is the first time an Israeli court has ruled that there are Jewish terrorist organizations aiming to hurt innocent Arab civilians, especially children in schools. This is a worrying phenomenon, due to the fact that the terrorists wanted to transfer the conflict and violence to various schoolyards."

Over the course of the past three years, at least two Jewish terrorist groups operated in the territories. One specialized in shooting attacks. The second, which did not kill anyone, placed explosive devices at Palestinian schools and in crowded areas.

Zeliger, the brother of Shlomo Dvir, from the Bat Ayin cell, testified last year saying that he was a member of a group that shot Palestinians to death. He named the members of the group and took the investigators to a weapons cache hidden in caves. The cache contained guns, anti-tank rockets, and a large supply of ammunition.

An investigation proved that the weapons were used to kill Palestinians. Eight people were arrested based on Dvir's testimony, most of whom were subsequently released.

The cache, consisting of weapons stolen from IDF weapons storage facilities and bunkers throughout the West Bank, were found by police last year, after Dvir-Zeliger took his interrogators to three caves, near the West Bank settlement of Adi Ad, where he resides. According to suspicion, the weapons were used to murder Palestinians in vehicles on West Bank roads.

	Shahar Dvir-Zeliger. (Archive/BauBau)