Police: Israeli Neo-Nazi Ring Busted

[Ghost in the Machine]

Police: Israeli Neo-Nazi Ring Busted
Published: 9/9/07, 7:05 AM EDT
By AMY TEIBEL

JERUSALEM (AP) - In a case that would seem unthinkable in the Jewish state, police said Sunday they have cracked a cell of young Israeli neo-Nazis accused in a string of attacks on foreign workers, religious Jews, drug addicts and gays.

Eight immigrants from the former Soviet Union have been arrested in recent days in connection with at least 15 attacks, and a ninth fled the country, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, in the first such known cell to be discovered in Israel.

All the suspects are in their late teens or early 20s and have Israeli citizenship, Rosenfeld said. A court decided Sunday to keep them in custody.

"The level of violence was outrageous," Maj. Revital Almog, who investigated the case, told Israel's Army Radio.

Gang members were arrested in recent days, and a gag order on the case was lifted early Sunday.

News of the arrests came as a shock in Israel, which was founded nearly 60 years ago as a refuge for Jews in the wake of the Nazi Holocaust and remains a most sensitive subject. Any forms of anti-Semitism around the world outrage Israelis, and the discovery of such violence in the country's midst made the front pages of newspapers and dominated talk on morning radio shows.

http://home.bellsouth.net/s/editorial.dll?pnum=1&bfromind=8383&eeid=5400074&_sitecat=1505&dcatid=0&eetype=article&render=y&ac=2&ck=&ch=ne

[KharmaTrain]

1. The Russian Mafia

In the 80's and 90's, my late mother worked with various groups trying to sponsor Soviet Jews either into the U.S. or Israel. Many of these people were Jews in name only...few, if any, had any religious background (prohibited by the Soviet government) and many were outcasts in the society who turned to crime and blackmarketing to survive during those days. Those habits followed them when immigrated. This isn't just a situation that happened in Israel, but also here in the U.S.

The lax laws about allowing Soviet Jews into Israel invited not just the best and brightest of that society but the worst as well...and many faced discrimination in Israel. I saw people here who were trained as doctors and other professionals end up as factory workers and other lower level jobs...and in Israel many of these immigrants found little work or opportunity in their chosen fields...and instead went to what worked in the Soviet Union...organized crime.

[Ghost in the Machine]

2. Sounds kinda like the Mariel Boatlift, huh?