10 September 2007Malta Star
At least eight members of the Neo-Nazis were arrested including the group's leader Eli "Eli the Nazi" Boanitov. The group of eight Russian immigrants aged between 18 and 21 appeared in court following an 18-month investigation into attacks on two synagogues in which swastikas were painted on the walls of the buildings. The men covered their heads with their shirts during the hearing, revealing arms tattooed with Nazi imagery.Ring leader Boanitov told police: "I won't ever give up. I was a Nazi and I will stay a Nazi, until we kill them all I will not rest." In one conversation recorded by the police, Boanitov tells one of his fellow gang members: "My grandfather was a half-Jewboy. I will not have children so that this trash will not be born with even a tiny per cent of Jewboy blood.".jpg)
During the investigation, police seized video recordings of the suspects attacking foreign workers. One of the videos shows the gang members attacking a Russian drug addict, striking him until he bled and forcing him to ask forgiveness of the Russian people for being a Jewish drug addict, The Guardian reported.
The search also revealed photographs of the suspects wearing Nazi clothing, using the Nazi salute and calling for the burning of Jews. Explosive materials were found in the home of one of the suspects.
Police also found recordings of conversations between gang members, in one they planned how to celebrate the Führer's birthday, and in another they planned a Nazi ceremony at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem.Outside the courtroom, Boanitov's mother said her son had done no wrong and was a victim of persecution of Russian immigrants in Israel.
Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit on Sunday led a chorus of voices calling for legal action to revoke the citizenship of a group of neo-Nazis who immigrated here under the Law of Return, Israel Post reported.Cabinet members on Sunday viewed videos presented by police that showed the alleged gang members, faces covered, kicking and punching helpless citizens, as well as posing with IDF-issued weapons and displaying "heil Hitler"-style salutes."I am confident that no one in Israel has remained indifferent to the images, which can attest to a failure on our part in educating our youth and keeping them away from disturbed and dangerous ideologies," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said following the video presentation.
"We must handle them…with the utmost severity," he said. "What we are talking about is shocking, senseless violence. We must create a deterrence to ensure that such incidents do not recur."
Industry, Trade, and Labor Minister Eli Yishai said, "These people are not fit to be called people. They are a cancer." He said the neo-Nazis' citizenship should be revoked.
