Two of the suspects in court
Photo: Shaul Golan
Classified information accidentally sent to defense attorneys in Jewish terror case
Lawyers were asked to immediately return 40 secret documents surrounding 7 terror suspects; attorney: 'They simply told me it wasn't intended for me.'
Classified documents were accidentally passed into the hands of the attorneys of seven Jewish individuals indicted for terror activities last month.
Following the incident, the Attorney General’s Office contacted the lawyers and requested that the documents, which likely included investigation details of the methods employed by the security forces to solicit information, be returned immediately.
Graffiti reads: "Revenge from the prisoners of Zion"
The material, which included 40 documents, was passed on to the lawyers at the beginning of last week. Shortly thereafter, the lawyers of the accused individuals received a phone call in which they were requested to return the documents.
“They simply told me that I had received secret information that was not intended for me and they asked me to return it,” said Nehami Feinblatt, one of the defense attorneys representing four of the indicted.
Attorney Nehami Feinblatt
The case involves seven suspects who allegedly carried out a number of crimes against Palestinians including price tag attacks, vandalism, and throwing tear gas grenades at Palestinian homes. The majority of the attacks were carried out in the Palestinian village of Beitillu.
Last Tuesday, Ynet published excerpts of investigation of the suspects in which the seven confessed to a number of attacks against Palestinians.
The charges against the defendants included violence against Palestinians and their property in the Samaria region of the West Bank. Furthermore, the detainees are being investigated on suspicion of similar offenses carried out between 2009 and 2013. Among those implicated in the crimes are two minors and a soldier whose names are presently under a gag order. However, the remaining four suspects have been identified as Pinchas Sandorfi, 22, Itamar Ben Aharon, 20, Michael Kaplan, 20 and Dana Shneur, 28, from Ma'ale Efraim.
Despite the confessions, important questions have remained unanswered, the main one being that neither the grenades nor the safety pins were found in the area where they allegedly carried out the attack. Consequently, the defendants’ fingerprints have not been found at the scene. Moreover, the graffiti that was sprayed on the wall in one of the alleged offenses was reported in the media a day after it took place, a fact which potentially undermines the veracity of their confession.
The Central District Attorney’s Office commented on the case: “Shortly after the passing of the investigative material to the lawyers we learned that due to an error, documents were included in the material that were not meant for the defense. Therefore, the attorneys were asked to return these documents. A report was passed on about the incident to security officials who will deal with the matter as they see fit.”
