5 dec 2012
Report: Israeli suspected of murder arrested in Thailand
Moshe David photo on local Thai news
Thai paper reports Moshe David, Israeli- Hungarian citizen, suspected of murdering his business partner.
Thai news site Phuket Gazette reported Wednesday that Bangkok police have arrested Moshe David, 38, on suspicion he murdered an Hungarian businessman. The Phuket police chief told the site: "We are currently searching for an additional suspect."
Thai Police searched for David, a dual Israeli-Hungarian national, following suspicions he murdered his business associate Peter Reisz, and hid his body at a plantation. On Monday, police questioned David's wife on suspicion she aided him.
The two business associates quarreled two weeks ago, and police suspect it over Reisz forging the signatures of David and his mother in a real-estate deal worth some 15 million Baht ($489,205).
Police sources told the Phuket Gazette that "following the argument with David, Reisz contacted the police saying he feared for his life." It was also reported that the Hungarian embassy was concerned for Reisz's well being and asked him to maintain contact with the embassy several times a week.
Meanwhile Reisz decided to move to another location in Phuket, and was last seen alive, with David, on November 24.
On Sunday, police issued a warrant for David's arrest. His wife, who resides with him in Koh Samui, was questioned on Monday. According to the report, David's wife confirmed he and Reizs were good friends for many years but lately had a falling out over a real estate deal.
She said that four days after Reisz disappeared, her husband arrived home driving Reisz's car, a Toyota Helix, and claimed Reisz gave it to him. The wife said David left home on Friday and insisted she has not seen him since.
Later on, police traced the car, which had fake license plates in Koh Samui and contacted immigration authorities to keep David from fleeing the country.
Investigators believe at least three more people aided David, including a Thai citizen. One of David's Hungarian friends was questioned Tuesday, but no details over his involvement were available.
4 dec 2012
Thai police hunt for Israeli murder suspect
Moshe David is suspected of killing business partner Peter Reisz over botched real estate deal
2 dec 2012
Suspects in 7-year-old murder arrested
Noy's father, holding his photo
Police investigators have breakthrough in cold case involving teen's slaying; four suspects arrested
Cleared for publication: A recent breakthrough in a seven-year-old murder case has resulted in the arrest of Amit Tawil, 32, from Givat Shmuel.
Tawil is the prime suspect in the murder of Shlomi Noy, a 17-years-old student from Modiin, who was bludgeoned to death in 2005.
Three other people were also arrested in connection to the case. They are suspected of being accessories after the fact, obstruction of justice and evidence tampering.
The prime suspects
Tawil was arraigned by the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court on Sunday and remanded to five days. The State plans to file charges against him in the coming week.
Noy was attacked on December 9, 2005 and suffered blunt force trauma. He was hospitalized in critical condition and later succumbed to his wounds.
Dan Subdistrict Police sources said that the case remained active since the investigation began and that the police never stopped looking for Noy's assailants.
Attorney Tali Gotlib, who is representing one of the suspects, told Ynet that the evidence connecting her client to the case was "flimsy at best. My client denies any involvement in the case."
13 nov 2012
Man who murdered ex-wife in Thailand pardoned
Eli Cohen in Thai prison
Israeli man convicted of murdering and dismembering ex-wife released from prison, slated to return to Israel in six months. Victim's mother accuses Minister Eli Yishai of involvement in Cohen's release.
Eli Cohen, who was convicted of murdering his ex-wife Carol Cohen, dismembering her body and dumping the parts in a suitcase in a Bangkok river in 2004, will be released from a Thai prison in six months, Foreign Ministry officials confirmed on Monday.
Having been originally sentenced to life in prison, Cohen has recently received a clemency from the King of Thailand. He cannot be put on trial again as he has already been tried and convicted of murder.
Carol's family said in response that they would do everything in their power to prevent Cohen's return to Israel. "I'd rather die than see the person who cut my daughter in pieces and threw her into the river," Carol's mother Rivkah Amsalem said. She called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take the matter into his hands.
"(Eli) never expressed regret, never said he was sorry," Rivkah said. "He murdered once, he will murder again."
The couple decided to end their marriage over Cohen's desire to move to Australia. Several months after leaving Israel, he invited his ex-wife to meet him in Thailand and the two met there in February 2004.
Three days after her departure from Israel, Carol's body was found.
Carol's mother said that the two were married for 10 years and had separated on good terms. "He invited her to Thailand but on the plane she discovered she had a one-way ticket. We arranged a return flight but less than 24 hours he had already slaughtered her."
Following the murder, Cohen contacted the Israeli Embassy in Bangkok and reported his ex-wife missing. A short while later, local police arrived at his hotel room only to discover what was later described as a "slaughter house."
Some of the remains of the body have yet to be found.
Eli Cohen and ex-wife Carol
A Thai court convicted Cohen of murder and sentenced him to life in prison. He did not receive the maximum penalty of a death sentence as he managed to convince the judges he did not plan the murder which he claimed happened "in the heat of the moment."
Thailand is known for its flexible clemency policy, especially around the king and queen's birthdays, due to a shortage of space in Thai prisons.
'Yishai involved in Cohen's release'
Eli Yishai
Cohen had twice appealed for a pardon. On his first attempt, his sentence was commuted to three years. After his second pardon was accepted his sentence was reduced by half making him eligible for release in May.
Carol's aunt said: "Let me ask the King of Thailand, if someone would have murdered your daughter so brutally then released from prison nine years later, how would you feel?"
The victim's family is accusing Interior Minister Eli Yishai of being involved in efforts for Cohen's release but the minister is firmly denying the allegations. "The minister has no connection to the murderer's release," a statement on behalf of Yishai said. "The minister is of the opinion that a murderer, any murderer, must spend the rest of his days behind bars."
But this has not convinced Carol's mother. "I don't believe him," she said. "Some religious people are crooks and Eli Yishai will be held accountable in the afterlife. When I kill myself I'll leave a note saying he's guilty so he expresses some remorse."
She further added, "There are Israeli drug dealers in Thailand that are still in prison after 15 years but suddenly a savage murderer is released with no outside help? I don't believe that."
"Eli Yishai should have talked to us – the victim's family - and not just the murderer's family before he became involved. The murderer has Australian citizenship. At the very least they should have made sure he will be sent to Australia and doesn't set foot in Israel."
10 aug 2012
NYC man pleads guilty in Kletzky murder
Leiby Kletzky
Levi Aron, 36, faces 40 years in prison for kidnapping, murdering and dismembering body of 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky.
A man accused in the horrific abduction and dismemberment of an 8-year-old boy from a tight-knit Orthodox Jewish community pleaded guilty on Thursday - a deal that will put him behind bars for at least 40 years and avoid a heart-wrenching trial.
District Attorney Charles Hynes made the arrangement in close consultation with the family of the boy, Leiby Kletzky.
The plea, to charges of second-degree murder and kidnapping, guarantees a sentence of 40 years to life for Levi Aron, a 36-year-old hardware store clerk. He originally had faced a first-degree murder charge.
The family was "eager to see this concluded and grateful to D.A. Hynes," Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who's acted as a family spokesman, said in a statement before the plea. "The last thing they want is to relive the horror of losing their child."
Leiby's mother is expecting a baby in about six weeks, Hikind said.
One of the city's most gruesome crimes in recent memory began with a chance encounter last summer on the streets of Borough Park, home to one of the world's largest Hasidic communities outside Israel.
The victim got lost on his walk home from a religious day camp and asked Aron, whom he met on the street, for help, prosecutors said. It was the first time the little boy was allowed to walk alone, and he was supposed to travel about seven blocks to meet his mother but missed a turn.
According to court papers, the defendant himself provided authorities a disturbing narrative of what happened next.
Aron took victim to wedding
During an interrogation after his arrest and in a written confession, Aron recounted how the boy first asked for a ride to a book store. But "on the way, he changed his mind and wasn't sure he wanted to go."
The defendant described deciding to take the boy to a wedding upstate. He said when they returned, they watched television before the boy fell asleep. Leiby remained there the next day while Aron went to work.
By that time, the disappearance had sparked a major search effort in Borough Park. The boy's picture was plastered on light posts around the area.
"When I saw the fliers, I was panicky and afraid," police said Aron wrote. Once home, he added: "I went for a towel to smother him. He fought back a little until he eventually stopped breathing."
At his sentencing, Aron, speaking in a near-whisper, told the judge he "panicked" when he found out there was a search on for the boy.
The judge asked him what he decided to do, and he responded simply, "Smother."
The medical examiner's office said that before the boy's death he was given a cocktail of prescription drugs.
Aron said heard voices
Levi Aron on facebook
Detectives' notes also outlined statements by Aron about how he carved up the body with knives and disposed of body parts, including the severed feet found wrapped in plastic his freezer. A cutting board and three bloody carving knives were found in the refrigerator.
The rest of the boy's body was discovered in bags inside a red suitcase in a trash bin. His legs had been cut from his torso.
Aron claimed that after the killing he was hearing voices telling him "to take his own life for what he did," according to court papers.
As the interrogation wore on, detectives said Aron made clear he was aware of his own notoriety.
"I'm famous," he said.
Related
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Report: Israeli suspected of murder arrested in Thailand
Moshe David photo on local Thai news
Thai paper reports Moshe David, Israeli- Hungarian citizen, suspected of murdering his business partner.
Thai news site Phuket Gazette reported Wednesday that Bangkok police have arrested Moshe David, 38, on suspicion he murdered an Hungarian businessman. The Phuket police chief told the site: "We are currently searching for an additional suspect."
Thai Police searched for David, a dual Israeli-Hungarian national, following suspicions he murdered his business associate Peter Reisz, and hid his body at a plantation. On Monday, police questioned David's wife on suspicion she aided him.
The two business associates quarreled two weeks ago, and police suspect it over Reisz forging the signatures of David and his mother in a real-estate deal worth some 15 million Baht ($489,205).
Police sources told the Phuket Gazette that "following the argument with David, Reisz contacted the police saying he feared for his life." It was also reported that the Hungarian embassy was concerned for Reisz's well being and asked him to maintain contact with the embassy several times a week.
Meanwhile Reisz decided to move to another location in Phuket, and was last seen alive, with David, on November 24.
On Sunday, police issued a warrant for David's arrest. His wife, who resides with him in Koh Samui, was questioned on Monday. According to the report, David's wife confirmed he and Reizs were good friends for many years but lately had a falling out over a real estate deal.
She said that four days after Reisz disappeared, her husband arrived home driving Reisz's car, a Toyota Helix, and claimed Reisz gave it to him. The wife said David left home on Friday and insisted she has not seen him since.
Later on, police traced the car, which had fake license plates in Koh Samui and contacted immigration authorities to keep David from fleeing the country.
Investigators believe at least three more people aided David, including a Thai citizen. One of David's Hungarian friends was questioned Tuesday, but no details over his involvement were available.
4 dec 2012
Thai police hunt for Israeli murder suspect
Moshe David is suspected of killing business partner Peter Reisz over botched real estate deal
2 dec 2012
Suspects in 7-year-old murder arrested
Noy's father, holding his photo
Police investigators have breakthrough in cold case involving teen's slaying; four suspects arrested
Cleared for publication: A recent breakthrough in a seven-year-old murder case has resulted in the arrest of Amit Tawil, 32, from Givat Shmuel.
Tawil is the prime suspect in the murder of Shlomi Noy, a 17-years-old student from Modiin, who was bludgeoned to death in 2005.
Three other people were also arrested in connection to the case. They are suspected of being accessories after the fact, obstruction of justice and evidence tampering.
The prime suspects
Tawil was arraigned by the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court on Sunday and remanded to five days. The State plans to file charges against him in the coming week.
Noy was attacked on December 9, 2005 and suffered blunt force trauma. He was hospitalized in critical condition and later succumbed to his wounds.
Dan Subdistrict Police sources said that the case remained active since the investigation began and that the police never stopped looking for Noy's assailants.
Attorney Tali Gotlib, who is representing one of the suspects, told Ynet that the evidence connecting her client to the case was "flimsy at best. My client denies any involvement in the case."
13 nov 2012
Man who murdered ex-wife in Thailand pardoned
Eli Cohen in Thai prison
Israeli man convicted of murdering and dismembering ex-wife released from prison, slated to return to Israel in six months. Victim's mother accuses Minister Eli Yishai of involvement in Cohen's release.
Eli Cohen, who was convicted of murdering his ex-wife Carol Cohen, dismembering her body and dumping the parts in a suitcase in a Bangkok river in 2004, will be released from a Thai prison in six months, Foreign Ministry officials confirmed on Monday.
Having been originally sentenced to life in prison, Cohen has recently received a clemency from the King of Thailand. He cannot be put on trial again as he has already been tried and convicted of murder.
Carol's family said in response that they would do everything in their power to prevent Cohen's return to Israel. "I'd rather die than see the person who cut my daughter in pieces and threw her into the river," Carol's mother Rivkah Amsalem said. She called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take the matter into his hands.
"(Eli) never expressed regret, never said he was sorry," Rivkah said. "He murdered once, he will murder again."
The couple decided to end their marriage over Cohen's desire to move to Australia. Several months after leaving Israel, he invited his ex-wife to meet him in Thailand and the two met there in February 2004.
Three days after her departure from Israel, Carol's body was found.
Carol's mother said that the two were married for 10 years and had separated on good terms. "He invited her to Thailand but on the plane she discovered she had a one-way ticket. We arranged a return flight but less than 24 hours he had already slaughtered her."
Following the murder, Cohen contacted the Israeli Embassy in Bangkok and reported his ex-wife missing. A short while later, local police arrived at his hotel room only to discover what was later described as a "slaughter house."
Some of the remains of the body have yet to be found.
Eli Cohen and ex-wife Carol
A Thai court convicted Cohen of murder and sentenced him to life in prison. He did not receive the maximum penalty of a death sentence as he managed to convince the judges he did not plan the murder which he claimed happened "in the heat of the moment."
Thailand is known for its flexible clemency policy, especially around the king and queen's birthdays, due to a shortage of space in Thai prisons.
'Yishai involved in Cohen's release'
Eli Yishai
Cohen had twice appealed for a pardon. On his first attempt, his sentence was commuted to three years. After his second pardon was accepted his sentence was reduced by half making him eligible for release in May.
Carol's aunt said: "Let me ask the King of Thailand, if someone would have murdered your daughter so brutally then released from prison nine years later, how would you feel?"
The victim's family is accusing Interior Minister Eli Yishai of being involved in efforts for Cohen's release but the minister is firmly denying the allegations. "The minister has no connection to the murderer's release," a statement on behalf of Yishai said. "The minister is of the opinion that a murderer, any murderer, must spend the rest of his days behind bars."
But this has not convinced Carol's mother. "I don't believe him," she said. "Some religious people are crooks and Eli Yishai will be held accountable in the afterlife. When I kill myself I'll leave a note saying he's guilty so he expresses some remorse."
She further added, "There are Israeli drug dealers in Thailand that are still in prison after 15 years but suddenly a savage murderer is released with no outside help? I don't believe that."
"Eli Yishai should have talked to us – the victim's family - and not just the murderer's family before he became involved. The murderer has Australian citizenship. At the very least they should have made sure he will be sent to Australia and doesn't set foot in Israel."
10 aug 2012
NYC man pleads guilty in Kletzky murder
Leiby Kletzky
Levi Aron, 36, faces 40 years in prison for kidnapping, murdering and dismembering body of 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky.
A man accused in the horrific abduction and dismemberment of an 8-year-old boy from a tight-knit Orthodox Jewish community pleaded guilty on Thursday - a deal that will put him behind bars for at least 40 years and avoid a heart-wrenching trial.
District Attorney Charles Hynes made the arrangement in close consultation with the family of the boy, Leiby Kletzky.
The plea, to charges of second-degree murder and kidnapping, guarantees a sentence of 40 years to life for Levi Aron, a 36-year-old hardware store clerk. He originally had faced a first-degree murder charge.
The family was "eager to see this concluded and grateful to D.A. Hynes," Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who's acted as a family spokesman, said in a statement before the plea. "The last thing they want is to relive the horror of losing their child."
Leiby's mother is expecting a baby in about six weeks, Hikind said.
One of the city's most gruesome crimes in recent memory began with a chance encounter last summer on the streets of Borough Park, home to one of the world's largest Hasidic communities outside Israel.
The victim got lost on his walk home from a religious day camp and asked Aron, whom he met on the street, for help, prosecutors said. It was the first time the little boy was allowed to walk alone, and he was supposed to travel about seven blocks to meet his mother but missed a turn.
According to court papers, the defendant himself provided authorities a disturbing narrative of what happened next.
Aron took victim to wedding
During an interrogation after his arrest and in a written confession, Aron recounted how the boy first asked for a ride to a book store. But "on the way, he changed his mind and wasn't sure he wanted to go."
The defendant described deciding to take the boy to a wedding upstate. He said when they returned, they watched television before the boy fell asleep. Leiby remained there the next day while Aron went to work.
By that time, the disappearance had sparked a major search effort in Borough Park. The boy's picture was plastered on light posts around the area.
"When I saw the fliers, I was panicky and afraid," police said Aron wrote. Once home, he added: "I went for a towel to smother him. He fought back a little until he eventually stopped breathing."
At his sentencing, Aron, speaking in a near-whisper, told the judge he "panicked" when he found out there was a search on for the boy.
The judge asked him what he decided to do, and he responded simply, "Smother."
The medical examiner's office said that before the boy's death he was given a cocktail of prescription drugs.
Aron said heard voices
Levi Aron on facebook
Detectives' notes also outlined statements by Aron about how he carved up the body with knives and disposed of body parts, including the severed feet found wrapped in plastic his freezer. A cutting board and three bloody carving knives were found in the refrigerator.
The rest of the boy's body was discovered in bags inside a red suitcase in a trash bin. His legs had been cut from his torso.
Aron claimed that after the killing he was hearing voices telling him "to take his own life for what he did," according to court papers.
As the interrogation wore on, detectives said Aron made clear he was aware of his own notoriety.
"I'm famous," he said.
Related
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11 mei 2012
Murder wave: Salesman stabbed to death in Netanya
Salesman killed during what appeared to be argument over faulty phone accessory.
The wave of violence that has hit cities across Israel in recent days continued on Friday when a salesman at a phone accessories store in Netanya was stabbed to death during what appeared to be an argument over a faulty product.
According to the police, two brothers, ages 44 and 25, arrived at the store on Friday afternoon, evidently to complain about a defective accessory they had purchased there. The conversation quickly escalated into a brawl; the police suspected that the salesman, 29, hit one of the brothers, prompting the other sibling to take out a knife and stab him.
A preliminary investigation found that the two brothers appeared to be previously acquainted with the salesman. Despite the police's assumption that the squabble began at the store, the murder took place on a sidewalk several meters away from the storefront. The sequence of events is under investigation.
Paramedics who responded on the scene said the victim was conscious when they arrived, but he had sustained critical wounds and later passed away.
The older brother, who allegedly wielded the knife, was turned in to the police by a concerned resident who witnessed the incident and chased the suspect down. The knife was found in a dumpster near the scene of the crime.
"Suddenly, we saw three people running down the street," another witness described the incident. "They passed the store and turned the corner, and then returned to the vicinity of the store. One of them used a bottle to attack the victim, who fell to the floor. The other took out a knife and stabbed the victim.
"It was shocking," he told Ynet.
Netanya Police Commander Alon Aryeh said both brothers and another suspect were in police custody.
Friday's murder concluded a particularly violent week; last Friday night, Gadi Wichman, a 36-year-old father from Beersheba was stabbed to death after asking some noisy teens in his neighborhood to keep it down. Overnight Saturday, 17-year-old boy, Or-Gil Moetti, was stabbed to death in Rehovot. Another woman was murdered in Beersheba on Thursday night.
5 dec 2012, 15:55 , Respect
Maria 13 mei 2012
Police solve murder of 75-year-old Jaffa woman
The victim, 75-year-old Shoshana Levy
The ex-wife of the suspected killer of Shoshana Levy knew the victim. In December 2010, she came to Levy's home with her ex-husband. He hid, then attacked her and choked her to death. Police and the IDF have arrested suspects in Qalqilya.
The murder nearly a year and a half ago of Jaffa resident Shoshana Levy, 75, has been solved, police announced Sunday morning.
The main suspects in the case are Omar Koran, from Qalqilya, and his ex-wife, Samara Abu-Hamad.
Levy's body was found by her grandson in December 2010, who entered her apartment through a window when she failed to open the door. Levy's hands and feet were bound, and a rag had been stuffed into her mouth. Her body showed signs of violence, and evidence in the apartment indicated that she had struggled.
Maj.-Gen. Gadi Eshed of the Tel Aviv District Police Central Unit led the investigation, which led them to Abu Hamad, who lived in Levy's neighborhood and whom the victim had asked to assist her with social security benefits. Police surmised that since Levy's home hadn't been broken into, she must have known her attackers.
The investigation led police to a Jaffa family, who were accordingly tailed, revealing connections with a number of clans in Qalqilya. Last week, a team of Central Unit detectives and 80 IDF soldiers led by Chief Superintendent Yoav Kotler raided the clans' compounds and made arrests. Other suspects were simultaneously arrested in Jaffa.
A few days after the raid, Abu Hamad confessed to the crime. At this point, interrogators under the command of Chief Superintendent Nissim Daoudi realized that the Koran was still not in custody.
Under interrogation, Abu Hamad told police that Koran, her ex-husband, had been heavily in debt and that she had informed him that Levy kept money in her house.
The day of the murder, Abu Hamad knocked on Levy's door while Koran hid in the stairwell. When the elderly woman opened it, Koran allegedly jumped on her and knocked her to the floor, bound her and strangled her.
Police believe that the two planned to kill Levy from the start, since they hadn't worn masks. In addition to Abu-Hamad's confession, a rope containing DNA evidence from the suspect was recovered at the scene. Koran was finally arrested last Tuesday and continued to deny the accusations, but police were confident that he would be indicted by next week.
7 mei 2012
Chief rabbi: Immorality, liberality leads to murders
16 aug 2011
Singer Margalit Tzanani arrested
Famous judge on 'A Star is Born' taken in for questioning on suspicion of blackmail, threats.
Police have raided the home of famous singer and television personality Margalit Tzanani, and arrested her on charges of blackmail and threats.
Tuesday's raid was one of a series of incursions by the police's economics wing into the homes of well-known criminals in central Israel.
Tzanani, also known as Margol, is a veteran Israeli celebrity and a judge on 'A Star is Born', the local version of American Idol.
Officers suspect Tzanani, who was recently in the news for slamming the tent protesters' struggle, became involved with the underworld following a quarrel that broke out between herself and a well-known figure in the entertainment industry.
She was taken in for questioning by officers of the economics wing, based in Lod. All suspects arrested in the raids are scheduled to be taken before the court later for the remand of their arrests.
The police operation followed the launching of an investigation against several suspected members of a crime organization headed by reputed underworld figure Amir Mulner, who was arrested last month.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4109419,00.html
Murder wave: Salesman stabbed to death in Netanya
Salesman killed during what appeared to be argument over faulty phone accessory.
The wave of violence that has hit cities across Israel in recent days continued on Friday when a salesman at a phone accessories store in Netanya was stabbed to death during what appeared to be an argument over a faulty product.
According to the police, two brothers, ages 44 and 25, arrived at the store on Friday afternoon, evidently to complain about a defective accessory they had purchased there. The conversation quickly escalated into a brawl; the police suspected that the salesman, 29, hit one of the brothers, prompting the other sibling to take out a knife and stab him.
A preliminary investigation found that the two brothers appeared to be previously acquainted with the salesman. Despite the police's assumption that the squabble began at the store, the murder took place on a sidewalk several meters away from the storefront. The sequence of events is under investigation.
Paramedics who responded on the scene said the victim was conscious when they arrived, but he had sustained critical wounds and later passed away.
The older brother, who allegedly wielded the knife, was turned in to the police by a concerned resident who witnessed the incident and chased the suspect down. The knife was found in a dumpster near the scene of the crime.
"Suddenly, we saw three people running down the street," another witness described the incident. "They passed the store and turned the corner, and then returned to the vicinity of the store. One of them used a bottle to attack the victim, who fell to the floor. The other took out a knife and stabbed the victim.
"It was shocking," he told Ynet.
Netanya Police Commander Alon Aryeh said both brothers and another suspect were in police custody.
Friday's murder concluded a particularly violent week; last Friday night, Gadi Wichman, a 36-year-old father from Beersheba was stabbed to death after asking some noisy teens in his neighborhood to keep it down. Overnight Saturday, 17-year-old boy, Or-Gil Moetti, was stabbed to death in Rehovot. Another woman was murdered in Beersheba on Thursday night.
5 dec 2012, 15:55 , Respect
Maria 13 mei 2012
Police solve murder of 75-year-old Jaffa woman
The victim, 75-year-old Shoshana Levy
The ex-wife of the suspected killer of Shoshana Levy knew the victim. In December 2010, she came to Levy's home with her ex-husband. He hid, then attacked her and choked her to death. Police and the IDF have arrested suspects in Qalqilya.
The murder nearly a year and a half ago of Jaffa resident Shoshana Levy, 75, has been solved, police announced Sunday morning.
The main suspects in the case are Omar Koran, from Qalqilya, and his ex-wife, Samara Abu-Hamad.
Levy's body was found by her grandson in December 2010, who entered her apartment through a window when she failed to open the door. Levy's hands and feet were bound, and a rag had been stuffed into her mouth. Her body showed signs of violence, and evidence in the apartment indicated that she had struggled.
Maj.-Gen. Gadi Eshed of the Tel Aviv District Police Central Unit led the investigation, which led them to Abu Hamad, who lived in Levy's neighborhood and whom the victim had asked to assist her with social security benefits. Police surmised that since Levy's home hadn't been broken into, she must have known her attackers.
The investigation led police to a Jaffa family, who were accordingly tailed, revealing connections with a number of clans in Qalqilya. Last week, a team of Central Unit detectives and 80 IDF soldiers led by Chief Superintendent Yoav Kotler raided the clans' compounds and made arrests. Other suspects were simultaneously arrested in Jaffa.
A few days after the raid, Abu Hamad confessed to the crime. At this point, interrogators under the command of Chief Superintendent Nissim Daoudi realized that the Koran was still not in custody.
Under interrogation, Abu Hamad told police that Koran, her ex-husband, had been heavily in debt and that she had informed him that Levy kept money in her house.
The day of the murder, Abu Hamad knocked on Levy's door while Koran hid in the stairwell. When the elderly woman opened it, Koran allegedly jumped on her and knocked her to the floor, bound her and strangled her.
Police believe that the two planned to kill Levy from the start, since they hadn't worn masks. In addition to Abu-Hamad's confession, a rope containing DNA evidence from the suspect was recovered at the scene. Koran was finally arrested last Tuesday and continued to deny the accusations, but police were confident that he would be indicted by next week.
7 mei 2012
Chief rabbi: Immorality, liberality leads to murders
16 aug 2011
Singer Margalit Tzanani arrested
Famous judge on 'A Star is Born' taken in for questioning on suspicion of blackmail, threats.
Police have raided the home of famous singer and television personality Margalit Tzanani, and arrested her on charges of blackmail and threats.
Tuesday's raid was one of a series of incursions by the police's economics wing into the homes of well-known criminals in central Israel.
Tzanani, also known as Margol, is a veteran Israeli celebrity and a judge on 'A Star is Born', the local version of American Idol.
Officers suspect Tzanani, who was recently in the news for slamming the tent protesters' struggle, became involved with the underworld following a quarrel that broke out between herself and a well-known figure in the entertainment industry.
She was taken in for questioning by officers of the economics wing, based in Lod. All suspects arrested in the raids are scheduled to be taken before the court later for the remand of their arrests.
The police operation followed the launching of an investigation against several suspected members of a crime organization headed by reputed underworld figure Amir Mulner, who was arrested last month.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4109419,00.html
- 24 aug 2011
Eritrea releases detained Israeli pilots
According to its website, Aviation Bridge is a private flight operator "specializing in executive, ambulance, and special-needs air transportation."
Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki Eritrea has ordered the release of two Israeli pilots detained in the country over arms smuggling in a show of friendship with Tel Aviv.
The two Israeli pilots, Captain Yehuda Maoz and First Officer Vered Aharonson, returned to Israel on Tuesday after nearly a month of intensive diplomatic efforts by Tel Aviv.
They were released shortly after former Israeli cabinet minister Ephraim Sneh met the Eritrean President and claimed that the two pilots were unaware of the cargo they were transporting.
An official involved in the release of the pilots said that there was no pressure on Afewerki and that he agreed to their release without any resistance because he considers himself a great friend of Israel.
Sneh and Afewerki have reportedly known each other for years. Twenty years ago when Afewerki was a guerrilla commander during the civil war in Eritrea he contracted malaria. The Israelis saved his life at the time by transferring him to Israel for treatment.
Maoz and Aharonson are former IDF officers employed as civilian pilots by the Israel-based Aviation Bridge Company. The pilots were arrested after an unannounced inspection by Eritrean security forces. The two were held in a hotel in the capital, Asmara, under heavy guard.
The pilots told Eritrean authorities that they were carrying spare machine parts for a local Eritrean security company, but it is believed that they were trying to smuggle Kalashnikov rifles into the country.
Some reports also suggest that the cargo was expected to be delivered to an Israeli company in the region.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/195534.html 25 aug 2011, 11:27 , Respect -
Maria 31 aug 2011
US: Ex-tech worker pleads guilty to attempting to spy for Israel
Elliot Doxer admits he provided tech company's trade secrets to FBI agent posing as Israeli spy.
A former employee of a company that helps websites deliver content to users pleaded guilty Tuesday to a charge of foreign economic espionage for providing trade secrets to an FBI agent posing as an Israeli intelligence officer.
Elliot Doxer, 43, admitted at a plea hearing in federal court in Boston to providing trade secrets from Cambridge-based Akamai Technologies Inc. over an 18-month period to the agent, the US Attorney's Office for Massachusetts said in a statement.
The prosecutor's office said Doxer believed the agent was an Israeli spy.
Doxer's attorney, Thomas J. Butters, said his client "has accepted the responsibility for what he did and he looks forward to his sentencing so that he could put this matter behind him."
Doxer accepted a plea deal that says he sent an email to the Israeli consulate in June 2006, while he worked in Akamai's finance department, offering to provide any information he had access to that would help Israel in exchange for money. Doxer said in plea documents that his main goal was "to help our homeland and our war against our enemies."
Israeli officials contacted US authorities about the offer. An FBI agent posed as an Israeli agent in September 2007 and arranged to use a "dead drop" location to exchange information with Doxer to avoid detection. From then until March 2009, Doxer visited the drop location at least 62 times and provided an extensive list of Akamai's customers and employees, including their full contact information and details of contracts, according to the documents.
He also described Akamai's physical and computer security systems to the agent and said he could travel to Israel and support special operations in his area if needed, according to the documents.
'Information was never in danger'
Akamai, which provides remote or "cloud-based" services for its clients, previously said it cooperated with the FBI.
"Because Akamai's information was disclosed only to an undercover agent from the beginning, the information was never in danger of actual exposure outside the company," the US Attorney's office said in a statement.
Authorities arrested Doxer in October 2010 and charged him with one count of wire fraud. That charge will be dismissed at the end of the case as part of the plea agreement.
Doxer faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, a three-year term of supervised release and a $500,000 fine at his November 30 sentencing.
"We acknowledge the Government of Israel for their cooperation in this investigation, and underscore that the information does not allege that the government of Israel or anyone acting on its behalf committed any offense under US laws in this case," prosecutors said in a statement. "We would also like to acknowledge and thank Akamai Technologies Inc. for its assistance throughout all stages of the investigation and prosecution."
http://fwd4.me/0AKl
30 aug 2011
Israeli 'idol' judge indicted in strongarm case
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Israel's "A Star is Born" TV singing competition has a new reality spinoff -- a criminal case against one of its judges, accused of using strongarm tactics to ensure she got a cut of a former contestant's earnings.
The judge, Margalit Tsanani, a popular singer in her own right, was indicted on Monday along with her alleged enforcer on extortion charges which both have denied.
The case has made front-page news in Israel, where the show, loosely formatted along the lines of the unaffiliated American Idol franchise, has been a ratings winner.
According to the charge sheet, Tsanani, popularly known as "Margol," co-managed along with a musical agent the lucrative career of one of the competition's former contestants.
But the agent withheld Tsanani's cut and she went to legal arbitration, which she won. The agent still refused to pay and Tsanani turned to an enforcer -- nicknamed "Tooth Puller" -- to collect, the indictment said.
Tsanani's arrest two weeks ago stunned the Israeli entertainment world, but parts of the indictment dealing directly with the singing competition could prove even more disturbing to fans.
Prosecutors alleged the judge awarded points to one contestant -- who did not win -- in accordance with a text message she received from tne enforcer during a live broadcast of the show.
And, the indictment said, Tsanani also did her enforcer a favor by making a friendly reference, during the show, to a convict watching the program in prison.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=416990
25 aug 2011
NY: Jewish charity man charged in Torah fraud
"Save a Torah" co-founder Menachem Youlus said he had crisscrossed globe rescuing Torahs as 'Jewish Indiana Jones.' Authorities say he duped benefactors by fabricating stories, collected hundreds of thousands of dollars.
A Jewish charity co-founder who claimed he crisscrossed the globe rescuing Torahs as a "Jewish Indiana Jones" surrendered Wednesday to face mail and wire fraud charges after authorities said he duped benefactors by fabricating dramatic stories about sometimes dangerous trips, including to concentration camp sites in Poland and Germany.
Menachem Youlus, who owns the Jewish Bookstore in Wheaton, Md., was charged in a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court in Manhattan and was released Wednesday on $100,000 bail. His attorney, Paul Rooney, said, "We deny this accusation and anything else we have to say will be said in court."
Court papers said the 50-year-old Youlus carried out the fraud from at least 2004 through last year, pocketing hundreds of thousands of dollars through the "Save a Torah" charity he co-founded in 2004 as a nonprofit organization. It said he passed off Torahs he bought from US dealers to synagogues and congregations nationwide, sometimes at inflated rates.
It said he received nearly a third of $1.2 million collected by the group, spending some of it on private school tuition for his children and on personal expenses, including meals and health care. The publicly stated mission of the charity was to locate and acquire Torahs that survived the Holocaust or had been taken from Jewish communities worldwide and repair them so they could be used in communities that need them.
Holy scrolls given new life?
According to a criminal complaint prepared by US Postal Inspector Greg Ghiozzi, an application by "Save a Torah" to become a charity listed on the federal government's campaign to encourage donations by federal employees boasted that Youlus had been "dubbed as the present day Jewish 'Indiana Jones.' He has been beaten up, thrown in jail, and gone $175,000 into debt, to bring these holy scrolls out of less-than-friendly places, back to safety and a new life."
At a 2004 Torah dedication, Youlus wrote: "I guess you could call me the Jewish Indiana Jones," the complaint said, referencing the action-adventure hero played by Harrison Ford in the 1981 Stephen Spielberg classic "Raiders of the Lost Ark."
But Ghiozzi wrote that his investigation of Youlus' globe-trotting found no facts to support claims that Youlus rescued the "Auschwitz Torah" in Poland from inside a metal box that he located and unearthed in 2004 using a metal detector. There was also no evidence that he discovered a Torah in 2002 that had been hidden during World War II under the floor of a barracks at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany, Ghiozzi wrote.
The postal inspector wrote that a review of travel records showed that Youlus never traveled to Poland in 2004, making only a two-week trip to Israel, and that he didn't travel internationally from early 2001 to August 2004, when he claimed to have made the trip to Germany. Ghiozzi said a historian at the Bergen-Belsen Memorial Museum told him Youlus' claims were impossible because the barracks was completely destroyed by the British Army several weeks after the camp was liberated at the end of World War II.
"Youlus told fabricated, untrue accounts of having `rescued' Torahs that had been lost or hidden during the Holocaust and other times of Jewish persecution around the world, and then used those fabricated accounts as a platform for soliciting contributions to `Save a Torah,'" Ghiozzi said.
$32,000 for Auschwitz Torah
Based on some of Youlus's false claims, a contributor paid about $32,000 directly to Youlus' book store to buy the Auschwitz Torah and then donated it to a Manhattan synagogue, which staged a large ceremony to honor the resettlement of the Torah, Ghiozzi said.
He said Youlus sent letters after the ceremony to the contributor, seeking a donation of at least $250,000 to "Save a Torah" on the grounds that Youlus had suffered significant personal debt rescuing items for the charity. At the time, in 2007, Ghiozzi wrote, Youlus' home had been paid off since 1992, and he had nearly $900,000 in savings accounts, checking accounts and other financial instruments that he held jointly with family members and more than $1.1 million held in the name of the Jewish Bookstore.
At the time, Youlus was telling the charity's president that he had personally borrowed over $150,000 on his credit cards and against his home at a high interest rate to acquire and repair 15 Torahs that were facing the threat of rapid deterioration or destruction, including 10 Torahs from an unspecified "Russian general" and five from a monastery in Kiev, Ukraine, Ghiozzi said.
The postal inspector said Youlus had complained before of going broke, saying he had borrowed more than $150,000 in 2004 to rescue Torahs that were well over 100 years old in Hungary, Poland and Ukraine when he had more than $150,000 in his personal bank accounts and $652,733 invested in certificates of deposit in the name of the Jewish Bookstore.
Meanwhile, Youlus benefited personally from donations, receiving more than $344,000, the complaint said. He spent $90,000 of that on tuition payments to a private school for his children and a relative's children and more than $200,000 on personal expenses including retail goods, meals and health care, the complaint said.
http://fwd4.me/09rU
- 23 oct 2011
IDF major suspected of heading drug ring
Cleared for publication – Operations Directorate officer from Southern Command arrested on suspicion of heading drug smuggling network, which sold narcotics seized by security forces on Israel border; nine other suspects arrested for involvement.
Cleared for publication – An IDF Operations Directorate officer with the rank of a major is suspected of heading a drug ring that sold narcotics smuggled into Israel.
The officer, who commanded cadets in Bahad 1 training base in the south, was responsible for storing narcotics seized by security forces on the Egypt-Israel border. The police suspect that he sold heroin and hashish to drug dealers in central Israel.
Police arrested nine other suspects along with the IDF officer. They are all expected to be arraigned later this week.
A covert investigation of the Tel Aviv Central Police Unit's drugs division and the Military Police Investigations Unit exposed the deep involvement of the officer, who holds a highly sensitive position in the military, in the activities of the smuggling network.
According to Chief Superintendent Yedidia Sabag, who headed the investigation, the officer was "in charge of arranging the drugs," which he had to hand to the police as part of his military duty.
In addition, the police suspect that the officer contacted other drug dealers and even conducted independent drug sales, mostly within the military base where he serves – and right under the noses of his commanders.
Sold drugs for NIS 2.1 million
The suspect was arrested at the beginning of October, shortly after completing another transaction in which he sold some 50 kg of hashish.
The affair was revealed last month following the arrest of a Yahud resident who was caught with 17 kg of hashish and thousands of ecstasy pills in his vehicle.
The large amounts of narcotics sparked the police's suspicion, and the investigation was handed over to the Tel Aviv Central Police Unit's drugs division, which launched a covert probe and revealed the drug ring and its members.
According to the drug ring's modus operandi, the officer was responsible for transferring the drugs seized by Border Guard officers to the police. He would then secretly take out a certain portion of the drugs and hide it near his office. Later, he contacted criminal elements from the center of Israel, who were responsible for distributing the stolen stash.
According to police estimates, the officer has been involved in drug ring for almost a year, and had pocketed hundreds of thousands of shekels.
The investigation also revealed that the officer transferred the members of the drug ring some 25 kg of heroin and between 150 and 200 kg of marihuana and hashish in the past few months.
According to the arrangement, the officer would be paid approximately NIS 30,000 for each kilo of heroin and NIS 10,000 for each kilo of hashish or marijuana.
The police estimate that the suspect was supposed to be paid a total sum of NIS 2.1 million, but found only NIS 300,000 deposited in his bank account. Further investigation revealed an additional NIS 300,000 hidden in a closet in the suspect's home, and police estimate the IDF officer had already spent a similar amount.
Tel Aviv Central Police Unit Commander Gadi Eshed told reporters, "This is a very grave incident in which normative people commit crimes. Most of the suspects had no criminal record."
Meanwhile, The suspect's parents on Sunday refused to believe the serious allegations, the mother insisting that her son fell victim to "a plot that someone has devised against him. I'm sure that someone will put a spoke in their wheel," she told Ynet.
"This is not possible, it can't be happening," the father said of the grave suspicions.
"He has no connection whatsoever to criminals," the major's mother added, "all his friends are fine people, including doctors. He's a lovely boy, salt of the earth. His wife would scream at him sometimes for being away from home a lot but I explained to her that she married a military man," she said.
5 dec 2012, 15:54 , Respect -
Maria 6 mei 2012
9 suspects arrested in Beersheba murder case
Gadi Vichman
Five suspects including 16-year-old girl thought to be in crime scene on night of murder. Four other suspects detained for aiding friends after murder.
Nine suspects were arrested Sunday in connection to the murder of Gadi Vichman in Beersheba. Vichman, 36, had been stabbed to death Friday night after asking a group of teens to keep their voices down as he tried to get his daughter to sleep.
Five of the suspects are thought to have been at the scene of the murder Friday night, including a 16-year-old girl.
An additional four suspects apparently aided their friends after the murder. With the exception of the 16-year-old girl, all of the suspects are over the age of 19.
One of the suspects
Earlier on Sunday, Vichman was laid to rest in Beersheba. Hundreds attended his funeral.
Gadi Vichman was murdered just hours after celebrating his two-year-old daughter's birthday. According to friends of the family, Vichman had called the police during the night to complain of noise of bottles being smashed. Failing to get his daughter to sleep, Vichman later went downstairs and told a group of teens in a small park to be quiet.
During this time his wife had made a second call to the police. But by the time the officers came, Vichman had been stabbed in his upper torso. Medics who tried to resuscitate him were forced to pronounce him dead.
5 dec 2012, 15:55 , Respect -
Maria 6 mei 2012
Teen stabbed to death in Rehovot
Or-Gil Moetti
Seventeen-year-old Or-Gil Moetti found in a pool of blood outside city park; police detain several people for questioning.
A 17-year-old boy was stabbed to death in Rehovot overnight. Or-Gil Moetti was found in a pool a blood in one of the city's parks.
Magen David Adom emergency teams rushed him to the Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot, but despite the doctors' frantic efforts to save his life, he succumbed to his wounds.
Several teens were arrested for questioning by the police.
According to available details, at around 2 am Sunday, the MDA emergency line received a call reporting a man was found unconscious in the city's Parshani Street.
The paramedics sent to the scene found Moetti lying at the entrance to a pubic park, suffering from multiple stab wounds in his chest and abdomen. Several other teens were nearby.
Paramedics began CPR immediately and rushed the teen to Kaplan hospital. He underwent emergency surgery, but did not survive.
Police sources said that eyewitnesses reported seeing the teem attempting to flee several other teens who were chasing him.
Rehovot Police Commander Chief Superintendent Yair Heztroni confirmed that several persons of interest were being questioned in connection to the stabbing.
He said none of the neighbors living in the vicinity of the scene had filed any disturbance complaints.
Moetti's murder was the last event in what police sources described as a "bloody weekend," which claimed the lives of four people.