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The defendants in court
Photo: Gil Yohanan
Entrance to base after riot
Photo: Yoav Zitun
Paint thrown by protestors
Photo: Yoav Zitun

'Soldiers supplied intel to rightist rioters'

Five settlers charged with rioting in IDF base, tracking IDF activity in West Bank. Prosecution: Soldiers helped plot riots by providing confidential docs

Five right-wing activists have been charged Sunday with planning and taking part in a riot in the Ephraim Territorial Brigade base last month.

 

The defendants are also being indicted for tracking the IDF's activity in the West Bank and collecting information of military value. According to the prosecution, the five planned to thwart the removal of illegal West Bank outposts by storming IDF bases and clashing with troops.

 

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The defendants, Akiva HaCohen, 27, Elad Meir, 36, Ephraim Haikin, 20, Meir Ettinger, 20, and David Eliyahu, 19, were also charged with conspiracy to riot, break into a military site and disturb a public official. The prosecution has motioned the court to keep the defendants in custody until the completion of the legal proceedings.

 

According to the indictment, the State intended to evacuate the Yitzhar outpost on the night of December 12, but the plan was sabotaged by the riot.
העצורים שהתפרעו בבסיס הצבאי מובאים לבית המשפט (צילום: גיל יוחנן)

The defendants (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

 

The prosecution alleged that for several months in 2011 the defendants operated a hotline that received reports of scheduled outpost removals and other "suspicious" IDF and police activity in the West Bank. While some of the intelligence was reported by residents designated as observers and patrollers, IDF soldiers supplied the activists with information from within their army bases.

 

'Can't wait for day of reckoning'

According to the prosecution, on December 11 the defendants received word that an outpost is to be removed. From that day until their arrest on December 14, they ran a "war room" where they coordinated activity to interfere with the plan.

 

On December 12, the defendants organized a bus that collected activists from Jerusalem and the West Bank. At 11:30 pm, dozens of activists stormed the Ephraim Brigade base, blocked roads in the area, torched tires and vandalized army property. Meanwhile, rioters in the nearby Gilad outpost threw stones at IDF and Palestinian vehicles. Two officers were injured in the parallel incidents.


רכב צבאי שהושחת בבסיס חטיבת אפרים בדצמבר (צילום: יואב זיתון)

Army vehicle vandalized in December riot (Photo: Yoav Zitun) 

 

The intelligence that the defendants received, which included the schedule of the removal, came from some 30 sources. The names, times and content of the reports were documented.  

 

The collected data showed the location of IDF forces and included information about army operations and scheduled deployment. Moreover, the defendants allegedly got their hands on confidential aerial images that included military codes and mapped out various areas in the Judea and Samaria Division. The materials were hidden in an apartment that the defendants shared.

 

The defendants were found in possession of documents plotting rallies and clashes with Palestinians and the army. In a document dated November 2011, the defendants wrote: "We can't wait for the day of reckoning… The confrontation should be brought forward. We aim for victory, which means creating a situation in which the government cannot remove outposts."

 

 

 


פרסום ראשון: 01.08.12, 12:21
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