tag:amiortiz.org,2005:/blogs/amiortiz-com-press?p=12AmiOrtiz.com Press2017-02-01T23:20:04-07:00The Ami Ortiz Storyfalsetag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/8361572013-05-21T06:00:00-06:002013-05-21T06:00:00-06:00YNet News - May 21, 2013<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: YNet News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: May 21, 2013<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Jack Teitel, ‘Jewish terrorist,’ appeals verdict to Supreme Court<br>
Reporter: Aviel Magnezi<br>
Section: Israel News<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4382315,00.html">link</a><br><br><b>Jack Teitel, ‘Jewish terrorist,’ appeals verdict to Supreme Court</b><br><br>
Yaakov (Jack) Teitel, the "Jewish terrorist" who was convicted in April of two murders of Palestinians and sentenced to two life sentences plus 30 additional years, has appealed his verdict to the Supreme Court.<br><br>
The appeal argues that the District Court ignored diagnoses relating to Teitel's mental state and thus relating to responsibility for his actions.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/5095312013-04-11T05:04:20-06:002017-01-13T06:44:17-07:00YNet News - April 9, 2013<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: YNet News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: April 9, 2013<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: 'Jewish terrorist' Jack Teitel gets 2 life sentences<br>
Reporter: Aviad Glickman<br>
Section: Israel News<br>
Article: <a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4365979,00.html" target="_new">link</a><br><b><br>
'Jewish terrorist' Jack Teitel gets 2 life sentences<br></b><br>
Teitel convicted of two counts of first degree murder of Palestinians; two counts attempted murder; illegal possession of firearm; incitement to violence. Victim's relative: 'He got what he deserved'<br><br>
By Aviel Mengazi<br><br>
"Jewish terrorist" J<a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3804111,00.html" target="_new">ack (Yakov) Teitel</a>, who was convicted of two counts of first degree murder of two Palestinians, in addition to a long list other violent offences, was sentenced Tuesday to two life sentences and an additional 30 years in jail by a Jerusalem District Court. Before sentencing Teitel claimed he did not regret his actions.<br><br>
The judges rejected the defense's request for a reduced sentence on the basis of Teitel's mental state and, in addition, the court ruled that Teitel will pay the two victims' families NIS 180,000 (roughly $50,000) each in compensation; he was also ordered to pay two people he was convicted of attempting to murder NIS 150,000 (roughly $41,000) each in damages.<br><br>
Related stories:</div>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4333417,00.html" target="_new">'Jewish terrorist' Jack Teitel convicted</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4158490,00.html" target="_new">Court: Jack Teitel fit to stand trial</a></li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4017400,00.html" target="_new">Teitel's associates: He's gone mad </a><br>
</li>
</ul><div style="text-align: justify;">Teitel, a US immigrant, confessed to the killings, which he committed while visiting as a tourist. He was convicted in January of killing a Palestinian taxi driver in Jerusalem and a shepherd near the West Bank city of Hebron.<br><br>
Teitel, who received the infamous nickname the "Jewish terrorist," was charged with 10 different offences, the most severe of which were two counts of murder in the first degree, two counts of attempted murder, illegal possession and assembling of a firearm and incitement to violence. <br><br>
During sentencing, Judges Zvi Segal, Moshe Drori and Moshe Cohen ruled that his mental condition had no influence on his actions and hence he would be held fully accountable for them.</div>
<br><div style="text-align: left;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/25847/fb1e82e770ce5141c6163700c18540d71d899474/original/jack-teitel-convicted-image.jpg?1377783041" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="272" width="408" /></div>
<b>Judges: Teitel 'accountable for actions' (Photo: Gil Yochanan)</b>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br>
"There is no doubt in our hearts that there is no causal link between his actions and his mental condition. Hence, we have decided to convict him of the actions attributed to him," the judges said in the ruling.<br><br><b>Hatred in the first degree</b><br><br>
The first murder for which Teitel was convicted took place in 1997. The deceased, Samir Akram Balbisi, was working at the time as a taxi driver, offered to drive Teitel to wherever he pleased.<br><br>
Teitel agreed, entered Balbisi's vehicle and then ordered the Palestinian to drive him to a certain location. When he saw that Balbisi's eyes were on the road he shot him point blank in the head.<br><br>
Three months later Teitel decided to kill again. He searched for a victim in the village of Susya and found a shepherd, Issa Jabarin. As Jabarin passed Teital he fired two shots, both from short range, in Jabarin's direction, hitting him in the chest.<br><br>
Teital was also convicted of incitement to violence and terror after he printed posters calling for the murder of members of the LGBT community, promising NIS 20,000 (roughly $5,500) for the person willing to kill "Sodom and Gomorra."<br><br>
He was also charged with planting an explosive device inside a plant near the entrance to Prof. Zeev Sternhell's house in September 2008.<br><br>
Sternhell, a world renowned professor of political science, an Israel Prize laureate and a peace activist, was wounded in his leg when the device exploded.<br><br>
He was additionally charged with the attempted murder of the youth Ami Ortiz in 2008. Teitel placed an explosive device inside a gift basket intended for the boy's father, David Ortiz, with the intent of killing him, because the man served as the head of the messianic Jewish community.<br><br>
The family's maid unknowingly took the booby trapped gift basket into the house, leading the boy to open it, prompting the bomb to go off. The boy was severely wounded throughout his body.</div>
<br><div style="text-align: left;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/25847/5f211821598697c3a51a54e1ef0bbae744e2e65d/original/jack-teitel-during-sentencing.jpg?1377783041" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="259" width="408" /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Teitel during sentancing (Photo: Gil Yochanan)<br></b><br>
In response to the sentence, Prof. Zeev Sternhell said: "The ruling is sign to all those who think that this is the way to get results- Teitel or his friends."<br><br>
Regarding compensation, Prof. Sternhell said: "I don't want any damages from this man, and I don't need anything. I happy that I was only lightly wounded."<br><br>
According to Teitel, Prof. Sternhell, who is known for his outspoken left wing opinions, gained his attention after he allegedly called for the death of settlers.</div>
<br><div style="text-align: left;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/25847/12d0ae8d74377330cee76da4babed0b3952d6b23/original/sternhell.jpg?1377783041" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="272" width="408" /></div>
<b>Prof. Sternhell: "The ruling is just' (Photo: Gil Yohanan)<br></b>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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Prof. Sternhell said, "The ruling is just, important, deterring and a sign that the courts will not sit quietly in the face of politically and ideologically motivated murders. This ruling has significance exceeding the bounds of this specific case. Teitel is not just another lunatic. He is a result of his surroundings.<br><br>
"He actualized what others want to do themselves, many who wanted to do the same to me. I know this because of the letters and phone calls I received during that time. This violence needs to be cut off at the stem, even that which currently is rampant in the occupied territories. If not, this violence will seep into every aspect of our society."<br><br>
A number of the victims' relatives arrived at the court for the sentencing.<br><br>
Ibrahim Balbisi, the father of Akram Balbisi, whom Teitel murdered, said upon hearing the sentence: "There is justice. It hurts my heart every day my son is not with us. Day and night we cannot sleep, our thoughts always wander to Akram. I am happy the sentence sends this killer to jail for the rest of his life."<br><br>
Leah Ortiz, Ami's mother, said: "We are very happy that Teitel received many years behind bars. He said he is proud of what he did and would do it again; he is a dangerous man, full of hate – jail is where he belongs."<br><br>
Yossi Greiber, Ortiz's lawyer, expressed anger at the fact that the State refuses to recognize the family as a victim of a terror attack and afford them the financial assistance such victims enjoy.<br><br>
"We are left with the pain and wounds. They boy is 20 years old and will require medical treatment for the rest of his life. Despite the fact that the background of the attack is identical to that of the deaths of the Palestinians, as the court itself claimed, the State refuses to grant us assistance," the lawyer said.<br><br>
Lawyers Asher Ohayon and Michael Ironi, who represented Teitel, claimed the court ignored the complexity of their client's mental state, opting for the easy solution.<br><br>
"Eight doctors, some who work for the State, think differently from the court (about Teitel's mental condition), but instead of dealing with this issue the court choose to ignore it. Teitel didn’t kill because of hatred, he has visions, he received orders which he felt he had to follow. And these resulted from a mental condition that had developed early in his childhood," one of the lawyers said. <br><br>
Sagi Ofir, for the prosecution, said: "The criminal was sent to jail for the rest of his life, as he deserved. The court affirmed the message towards those who turn to terror. We can only hope this will serve as a deterrent to those who wish to engage in terror activities."</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/5093312013-04-11T04:47:57-06:002013-04-11T04:47:57-06:00The Jerusalem Post - April 9, 2013<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: The Jerusalem Post<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: April 9, 2013<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: 'Jewish Terrorist' sentenced to life for murder<br>
Reporter: Yonah Jeremy Bob<br>
Section: National News<br>
Article: <a href="http://www.jpost.com/National-News/Terrorist-Teitel-sentenced-to-life-for-murders-309222" target="_new">link</a><br><br><b>'Jewish Terrorist' sentenced to life for murder</b><br><br><b> </b>Tytell given two life sentences, additional 30 years for murder of two Palestinians, other assorted crime<br><br>
By Yonah Jeremy Bob<br><br>
The Jerusalem District Court sentenced “Jewish terrorist” Jack Tytell on Tuesday to two life sentences and an additional 30 years in prison for the murder of two Palestinians and an assortment of other crimes.<br><br>
Just before the sentence was handed down, Tytell said he had no regrets and was proud of what he had done.<br><br>
Although he was only formally sentenced on Tuesday, he was convicted on January 16.<br><br>
Despite his claim that an “angel” had controlled him, the court, explaining its verdict, found that Tytell was not insane and was thus “responsible for his actions,” which paved the way for Tuesday’s double life sentence.<br><br>
The court also ordered him to pay NIS 180,000 to the family of each murder victim and NIS 150,000 to each attempted murder victim.<br><br>
In its ruling, the court stated, “Our roots command: ‘Do not kill’ – but the accused shut his ears and his eyes, killed and tried to kill in cold blood... there was no foreseeable threat of a weapon or anything to fear from them [the victims].”<br><br>
The state prosecutor for the case, Sagi Ophir, said he hoped the ruling would “send a message” that would “efficiently deter anyone who will perpetrate terror or participate or aid in terror.”<br><br>
Tytell’s lawyer, Asher Ohayon, told The Jerusalem Post that they intended “100 percent” to appeal to the Supreme Court – “not 60%, not 70%” – and that they intended to appeal “both the conviction and the sentence.”<br><br>
Last May, the court accepted an unusual plea bargain between the district attorney and lawyers representing Tytell, and determined that the defendant had murdered two Palestinians and committed other violent crimes from 1997-2008.<br><br>
Judges Zvi Segal, Moshe Hacohen and Moshe Yair Drori said the court had determined that Tytell had committed the acts attributed to him in an amended indictment.<br><br>
That indictment includes 10 of the original 14 charges against the defendant – including two murders and two attempted murders – as the prosecution agreed to remove charges relating to attempted attacks that authorities succeeded in foiling, as well as general language describing Tytell’s hatred for those who disagreed with or were different from him as the motivating factor behind his crimes.<br><br>
The court did not formally convict Tytell until it had carefully reviewed whether he could be held criminally responsible for his offenses.<br><br>
Although he agreed to confess to the charges, Tytell refused to physically plead guilty in court when he was convicted, because he claimed he did not recognize the court’s authority.<br><br>
Instead, in a highly unusual procedure that required special court approval, Ohayon – with Tytell present in the courtroom but refusing to take part – submitted an admission to the charges in the amended indictment on his client’s behalf.<br><br>
Courts normally require that defendants confessing to crimes do so in-person in order to safeguard their rights and ensure that they have not been coerced into admission or confused about any element of their confession.<br><br>
The Florida-born Tytell, 39, was originally indicted in 2009.<br><br>
He is charged with the 1997 murder of Palestinian taxi driver Samir Balbisi, who was found shot dead in his cab.<br><br>
According to the indictment, in around May 1997, when Tytell was still in the US, he decided to murder Palestinians and came to Israel for that purpose, smuggling a gun into the country by hiding it in a VCR.<br><br>
He spent his first weeks in Israel with friends in Jerusalem.<br><br>
He managed to acquire bullets for his smuggled gun, and began seeking out a suitable victim.<br><br>
The indictment states that he chose to murder an Arab taxi driver because he thought he could ask the driver first to drive him to a suitable spot.<br><br>
On June 8, 1997, he went to the Arab taxi stand at Damascus Gate in Jerusalem, the indictment says, where he hired Balbisi and asked him to drive him to a hotel. After driving for a while, Tytell told Balbisi to stop and wait, then proceeded to shoot the Palestinian man in the head at point-blank range.<br><br>
The indictment also charges Tytell with the murder of a second Palestinian man, Beduin shepherd Isaa Mousa’af Mahamada, who was shot dead near the West Bank settlement of Carmel, near Hebron, in August 1997.<br><br>
In 2000, Tytell made aliya and lived in Shvut Rahel, a West Bank settlement north of Jerusalem, where he married and had four children. That year, police arrested him on suspicion of carrying out both of the 1997 murders, but later released him due to lack of evidence.<br><br>
In March 2008, according to the indictment, he attempted to murder 15-year-old Amiel Ortiz, a Messianic Jewish teen from Ariel.<br><br>
Tytell sent a bomb in a Purim gift basket to Ortiz’s home, which exploded when the youth opened it.<br><br>
Other charges include planting homemade explosives in September 2008 at the home of Prof. Ze’ev Sternhell, a leftwing scholar from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.<br><br>
Tytell also attempted to murder a resident of the Beit Jamal monastery near Beit Shemesh because he believed its inhabitants were missionaries who tried to convert Jewish children.<br><br>
He attacked a police station in 2006 during a gay pride parade.<br><br>
Following his arrest in 2009, he was remanded in custody in a secure psychiatric facility, and though an initial psychiatric assessment in 2010 deemed him unfit to stand trial, later tests showed that he was able to face prosecution.<br><br>
Tytell’s lawyers had previously argued that their client had not known right from wrong when he committed the acts, and therefore the court could not impose a prison term.<br><br>
There were even arguments that an “angel” had controlled his actions, and at least one expert said that Tytell was insane. But the prosecution successfully argued that Tytell was responsible for his actions when committing the crimes.<br><br>
The court said that it accepted another expert opinion that regardless of whether Tytell may have had episodes of insanity during his trial and imprisonment, if he had been insane years earlier when he committed the crimes, he would have deteriorated to a far worse state in the subsequent years.<br><br>
Based on the above and the rational manner in which Tytell gave statements to police when arrested, the court agreed with the expert that any episodes of insanity came after the crimes and during imprisonment.<br><br>
On December 7, the court arrived at an interim conclusion that Tytell was indeed sane and criminally responsible, a development that paved the way for January’s conviction and Tuesday’s sentencing.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/5090792013-04-11T04:21:52-06:002017-02-01T21:07:31-07:00MAOZ Israel l April, 11 2013<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: Maoz Israel<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: April 11, 2013<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Justice For Ami Ortiz<br>
Video: <a target="_new" href="http://maozblog.com/israel/justice-for-ami-ortiz/#.UWbQIoLagZ2">link<br><br></a> On April 9, 2013, “the Jewish Terrorist” Jack Teitel, received his punishment from an Israeli court:<br><br>
-2 life sentences for killing two Arab men<br><br>
-Plus another 30 years for inciting violence and planting bombs.<br><br>
Teitel left one of those bombs at the Ortiz family home in Ariel, Israel. They were targeted for being Messianic Jews. Their teenage son, Ami, was critically injured in the bombing<br><br>
The Ortiz family has not received assistance from the Israeli government, as victims of ‘terrorism’ are entitled. Government officials have classified the case as a ‘criminal’ incident.<br><br>
To help support the family with legal or medical aid, go to: <a href="http://www.amiortiz.com" target="_new">www.amiortiz.com</a><br><br><iframe width="533" height="300" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JysQRYcMC44?rel=0"></iframe>
</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/5096562013-04-10T05:10:00-06:002013-04-10T05:10:00-06:00CBN News - April 10, 2013<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: CBN News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: April 10, 2013<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Justice Served in Terror Attack on Jewish Family<br>
Reporter: Chris Mitchell, CBN News Middle East Bureau Chief<br>
Section: Inside Israel<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2013/April/Justice-Served-in-Terror-Attack-on-Jewish-Family/">link</a>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br><b>Justice Served in Terror Attack on Jewish Family</b><br><br>
By Chris Mitchell<br>
CBN News Middle East Bureau Chief<br><br><a target="_new" href="http://cbn.com/tv/2290282348001"><b>VIDEO LINK</b></a><br><br>
JERUSALEM, Israel -- A little more than five years ago, a young Israeli boy opened what looked like a holiday package left on his doorstep. The package was a bomb. It was one in a series of attacks targeting the family of Ami Ortiz and others.<br><br>
On Tuesday, an Israeli court brought the case to closure by sentencing American-born Jack Teitel, who perpetrated that attack and several others. <br><br>
An amazing part of the story deals with the forgiving spirit shown by Ami Ortiz, his parents and siblings.<br><br>
Jack Teitel walked into the Jerusalem courtroom unrepentant Tuesday, saying he had no regrets.<br><br>
The judge responded with two life sentences for two murder cases and an additional 30 years for other crimes, including the attempted murder of the Ortiz family.<br><br>
"We hope that this heavy punishment will deter any others who might think of doing any kind of terror activities or participate in such," said Jerusalem District Attorney Sagi Ofire.<br><br>
Teitel's reign of terror included killing two Arabs and planting a bomb at the home of Messianic pastors David and Leah Ortiz.<br><br>
The explosion nearly killed then 15-year-old Ami. Miraculously, he survived.<br><br>
At one point, Teitel claimed he did God's will, but during sentencing the judge said his "holy" work had become dust under his feet, and his actions contradicted the values of the Jewish state.<br><br>
Part of his mission included eradicating Jews who believe Jesus is the Jewish Messiah -- from Israel. Ironically, his actions spread the news of Messianic Jews throughout the country.<br><br>
"The Lord has, in His mercy, chosen us to suffer for His name sake that His name should be lifted up because that's the only thing we take with us, only Jesus," his father told CBN News.<br><br>
His mother, Leah, says God told her from the outset to pray for the man who almost killed her son.<br><br>
"He really dealt with me from the very beginning concerning that and He gave me His love for Jack Teitel," she said. "I didn't even know who Jack Teitel was, but He gave me the love of God and told me to pray for the person who did this and pray for his salvation and that's what I did."<br><br>
"Have you and David, Ami and the rest of the family forgiven him," CBN News asked her.<br><br>
"All of us, from the very beginning," she responded without hesitation. "Otherwise, we would have been prisoners along with him. We would have been destroyed. We wouldn't have been able to receive any kind of healing in our lives whatsoever and so we did. We all forgave him."<br><br>
The family's lawyer, Yossi Greiber, called them "an amazing family."<br><br>
"For me, I consider them as heroes," Greiber said. "To deal with [at] the same time as the medical situation and with a son who almost died in the explosion…on the other hand [to] deal with the psychological situation with the family -- all the house was destroyed by the explosives -- and the legal issues, and they dealt with that with a good sensitivity," he said. "They are an amazing family."<br><br>
Yet the Ortiz family credits the prayers of believers from around the world for carrying them through this horrendous time.<br><br>
"It was their prayers that were able to lift us up and keep us afloat," Ortiz said. "Without the prayers, we wouldn't be able to do it."<br><br>
His mother says she came to know God more closely than ever.<br><br>
"I have never known the Lord as Emanuel [God with us] as I have through this situation," she said. "He has stayed so close to us. We have experienced the Body of Christ around the world that is unbelievable, how everyone pulled together."<br><br>
David and Leah Ortiz were relieved at the verdict, grateful Teitel cannot harm other families and hope one day to visit him in jail to share God's love.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305802013-02-17T08:17:48-07:002013-02-17T08:17:48-07:00The Times Of Israel - February 13, 2013<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: The Times Of Israel<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: February 13, 2013<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: State seeks to make example of US-born ‘Jewish terrorist’<br>
Reporter: Aaron Kalman<br>
Article: <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/state-seeks-to-make-example-of-us-born-jewish-terrorist/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter" target="_new">link</a><br><br><b>State seeks to make example of US-born ‘Jewish terrorist’<br></b><br>
Prosecution asks court to sentence Jack Tytell, convicted of murdering 2 Palestinians, to 2 life sentences plus 70 years, to ‘deter’ others<br><br>
Israel’s state prosecution on Wednesday asked the Jerusalem District Court to sentence a man dubbed the “Jewish terrorist” to two back-to-back life sentences plus 70 years’ imprisonment for his crime of double murder, saying society should to take away Jacob (Jack) Tytell’s freedom “until the end of his days.”<br><br>
Tytell, an American-born Israeli Jew who was convicted in January of murdering two Palestinians and wounding two Israelis in a series of violent acts, “trampled, in his actions, every possible value human society is founded upon,” prosecutor Sagi Ofir explained during the sentencing hearing.<br><br>
In January, the Jerusalem District Court rejected Tytell’s insanity plea, turning back psychiatric testimony on his behalf, and finding him accountable for the 10 crimes he had confessed to committing.<br><br>
Tytell’s acts of incitement and calls to replace the State of Israel with a totalitarian Jewish monarchy, along with his calls for and encouragement of violence against those who didn’t share his views, were acts that “undermine the foundations of a democratic society,” Ofir also said. In his acts of murder, attempted murder and violence, Tytell “scorned the sanctity of life,” Ofir added.<br><br>
Tytell’s actions warranted that “his freedom be taken until the end of his days,” just as he took away the freedom of his victims and tried to take it from others, the prosecutor stated.<br><br>
Acknowledging that Tytell would die long before he could serve out such a sentence in full, Ofir said, ”It’s obvious that part of the requested jail time has value as a statement… that will deter anyone contemplating similar actions.”<br><br>
Tytell was arrested in 2009, and admitted to carrying out at least seven terror acts that killed two Palestinians and injured three over the course of 12 years. Besides targeting Palestinians, the 40-year-old Florida native attacked Jews he suspected of missionary actions.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305532013-01-29T07:51:57-07:002017-01-13T06:44:09-07:00Israel Today - February 1, 2013Publication: Israel Today<br>
Type: Magazine & Online<br>
Date: February 1, 2013<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Messianic Victimes of Jewish Terror Respond to Conviction<br>
Article: <a href="/files/83001/Israel-Today-Ami-Ortiz-February-2013.pdf" target="_new">Print Version<br></a><br><div style="text-align: left;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/25847/7cc06cd1401a54233b8fda3b69c5f6971e518817/original/Israel-Today-Ami-Ortiz-February-2013.jpg?1377783041" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="590" width="450" /></div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305712013-01-22T06:00:00-07:002013-01-22T06:00:00-07:00Christianity Today - January 22, 2013<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: Christian Today<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: January 22, 2013<br>
Country: USA<br>
Title: ‘Jewish Terrorist’ convicted in attack on Messianic pastor’s son<br>
Reporter: Tim Morgan<br>
Article: <a href="http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctliveblog/archives/2013/01/jewish_terroris.html" target="_new"><b>link</b></a><br><br><b>‘Jewish Terrorist’ convicted in attack on Messianic pastor’s son</b><br><br>
Likely target of attempted murder was pastor David Ortiz, but his son Ami was nearly killed instead in 2008.<br><br>
Last week, Jack Teitel, labeled as a “Jewish terrorist” in the news media, was convicted in an Israeli courtroom of two murders and one attempted murder.<br><br>
Israel’s small but growing Messianic Jewish community was one of Teitel’s targets. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency notes:<br><br>
“Along with killing two Palestinians and attempting to murder five Jews and Arabs, he also assembled a package bomb that seriously injured the son of a messianic Jew in Ariel and set up a pipe bomb near the home of prominent left-wing professor Ze'ev Sternhell. The crimes occurred between 1997 and 2008.”<br><br>
In March 2008, the son, Ami Ortiz, was at home while his father, David, pastor of Messianic Congregation of Ariel, and his mother, Leah, were out. Someone left a gift basket at the door of the Ortiz home in Ariel. During the Jewish holiday of Purim, the exchange of gift baskets is common.<br><br>
Ami opened the package, causing the bomb inside to explode, nearly killing the teen. He survived but received extensive injuries. At one point, later during interrogation, Teitel told police his intention was to murder David Ortiz.<br><br>
The Jerusalem Institute of Justice has been involved in legal advocacy for the Ortiz family since the attack. In a recent newsletter, JIJ said:<br><br>
Ami has miraculously recovered from this attack, but is still undergoing a serious of painful plastic surgeries to remove his scars. During the opening of his trial, Teitel said, "It was a pleasure and honor to serve my G-d, G-d is proud of what I did. I have no regrets".<br><br>
It is a relief to know that this cold-blooded murderer will spend the rest of his life behind bars.<br><br>
The court has set a sentencing date for mid-February. The Ortiz family created this website to update the public about Ami's story.<br><br>
There are many remaining questions about Teitel and whether he was a so-called "lone wolf," or as some believe, was given assistance and support by others. Since Teitel pleaded guilty, there was no trial in the case. The court rejected defense claims that Teitel was not mentally competent to stand trial.<br><br>
Leah Ortiz said on the family website, "There has been so much in this case that has been hidden in darkness and obscured. Only the Lord can now uncover what needs to be brought into the light."</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305722013-01-20T06:00:00-07:002013-01-20T06:00:00-07:00Israel Today - January 20, 2013Publication: Israel Today<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: January 20, 2013<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Messianic Victims of Jewish Terror Respond to Conviction <br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/23631/Default.aspx">link</a><br><br><div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Messianic Victims of Jewish Terror Respond to Conviction </b><br><br>
After three years of legal debate, a Jerusalem court rejected arguments that Jewish terrorist Jack Teitel was mentally unstable when he murdered two Palestinians Arabs in 1997 and attempted to murder a Messianic Jewish pastor and a prominent left-wing professor a decade later.<br><br>
Israel Today has reported extensively on the severe wounding of Ami Ortiz, son of Pastor David Ortiz, when Teitel planted a bomb disguised as a Purim gift basket at their home in Ariel in 2008.<br><br>
We spoke to David and his wife, Leah, about Teitel’s conviction and where they go from here.<br><br>
The interview with David and Leah Ortiz will appear in the February 2013 issue of Israel Today Magazine.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305642013-01-18T06:00:00-07:002013-01-18T06:00:00-07:00CBN News - January 17, 2013<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: CBN News<br>
Type: Online / TV<br>
Date: January 17, 2013<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: American-born 'Jewish Terrorist' Convicted of Murder<br>
Reporter: Chris Mitchell & Julie Stahl<br>
Section: Inside Israel<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2013/January/American-born-Jewish-Terrorist-Convicted-of-Murder/">link</a><br><br><left><iframe width="335" scrolling="no" height="195" frameborder="0" src="http://www.cbn.com/media/player/embedplayer.aspx?bcid=2101488413001&width=320&height=180"></iframe> <br>
JERUSALEM, Israel -- This week, the Jerusalem District Court convicted the man accused of delivering a bomb to an Israeli pastor's home, nearly killing his son.<br><br>
American-born Jack Teitel walked into the courtroom this week to hear the judges' verdict. Inside they convicted him of murdering two Palestinians in separate attacks in 1997.<br><br>
"Today's decision was very comforting for us," Hani Balbisi, the brother of the murdered taxi driver, said. "It came too late because we waited 15 years to hear such a decision."<br><br>
"But I would like to ask from the court that it will go after the other people who were probably cooperating with them because it couldn't be a one man's act," he added.<br><br>
The court found Teitel, dubbed the "Jewish terrorist," was not insane and held him criminally responsible for his actions, even though he claimed an angel controlled him.<br><br>
The judges also convicted him of a number of other violent crimes, including the attempted murder of then-15-year-old Ami Ortiz in March 2008.<br><br>
Ami nearly died when he opened a bomb-laden Purim gift basket delivered to his family's home. He miraculously survived and after numerous surgeries eventually returned to the basketball court where he loved to play.<br><br>
The attack was believed to have been directed against the Ortiz family because of their faith in Jesus. Ami's mother, Leah, is a Messianic Jew and his father, David, a pastor in the city of Ariel.<br><br>
His mother said even though her son still has nearly 100 pieces of shrapnel in his body and constant ringing in his ears from the bomb, the family moved on a long time ago.<br><br>
"From the very beginning we knew we had to forgive him, and the Lord did a work of forgiveness in our hearts from the beginning," she told CBN News.<br><br>
"For me it was a supernatural thing that happened to me the very first day," she said. "The Lord really spoke to my heart directly through Psalm 36 and He really gave me the love of God for this person and commissioned me to pray for him and for his salvation," she said.<br><br>
"And so that's what we concentrate on because if we concentrate on anything else, we won't be able to heal, we won't be able to go on with our lives, and everyone in our family has had to come to that place," his mother said.<br><br>
"At the end, there's always justice with God because He's the final judge," his father said. "So I feel peace. I really feel peace." <br><br>
In an earlier interview, Ami told CBN News he prays for Teitel.<br><br>
"I'm praying, hoping that in his time in jail he will think about it and understand and realize he's done some pretty serious mistakes and he needs to repent," Ami said.<br><br>
Asked if he had forgiven him, he responded, "Oh yeah, like I said before in the interviews, from the beginning there was no hate for nobody."<br><br>
"We're able to comfort as the Lord has comforted us, like it says in II Corinthians. And so in a way it will never be over, but for good also and not just for the pain and the trauma," his mother added.<br><br>
"You know when I see my son's body and the effects of his injuries, I die inside personally," she said. "But you know we just bring it before the Lord and we keep on going for the Lord." <br><br>
After the bombing, letters and support flooded the Ortiz family from around the world.<br><br>
"We had people who supported us and I believe that if it wasn't for the prayers and if people wouldn't support us, we wouldn't be able to stand. We're standing here because of the Body of the Lord," David Ortiz said.<br><br>
Teitel left the court as he had entered it -- in chains. He is likely to be sentenced to life in prison.</left>
</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305612013-01-18T02:00:00-07:002013-01-18T02:00:00-07:00Jerusalem Institute of Justice - January 18, 2013Publication: Jerusalem Institute of Justice<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: January 18, 2013<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Jack Teitel Conviction<br>
Section: Enewsletter<b><br><br>
Jack Teitel Conviction</b><br><div style="text-align: justify;">
<br>
Yesterday Jack Teitel, a self-confessed long-time volunteer for the Yad L'Achim anti-missionary organization, was finally convicted by the District Court in Jerusalem on two accounts of murder and two accounts of attempted murder including the bombing of Ami Ortiz, the Messianic Jewish young man from the town of Ariel.<br><br>
Nearly five years ago, during the 2008 Purim holiday, Teitel left a pipe bomb disguised as a gift package on the doorstep of the Ortiz family. When Ami, then 15 years old brought the package inside and opened it, he detonated the bomb which critically wounded him filling his body with hundreds of pieces of shrapnel.<br><br>
Ami has miraculously recovered from this attack, but is still undergoing a serious of painful plastic surgeries to remove his scars. During the opening of his trial, Teitel said, "it was a pleasure and honor to serve my G-d, G-d is proud of what I did. I have no regrets".<br><br>
It is a relief to know that this cold-blooded murderer will spend the rest of his life behind bars. Over the past five years, JIJ has supported the Ortiz family offering pro-bono legal representation, raising donations to renovate their bombed apartment and care for Ami's special medical needs, as well as helping them manage the Israeli media's treatment of the attack, investigation and trial.<br><br>
Yesterday Ami's parents, David and Leah Ortiz, sent JIJ the following note: "we know you heard the good news of the guilty verdict, but we just want to thank you for standing by us for these years, and for supporting us in every way". JIJ is honored to have played a part in bringing justice to this case. Indeed, the mills of justice grind slow, yet they grind fine.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305682013-01-17T03:45:00-07:002013-01-17T03:45:00-07:00Maoz Israel - January 17, 2013<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: MAOZ Israel<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: January 17, 2013<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Our God Is A God Of Justice<br>
Reporter: Chaim Goldberg<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://maozisraelblog.blogspot.co.il/2013/01/our-god-is-god-of-justice.html">link</a><br><br><b>Our God Is A Just God<br><br></b>Yesterday was quite a day for the Ortiz family and the Messianic Jewish community as a whole, here in Israel. We could finally breathe a sigh of relief.<br><br>
After nearly five years, yes "5" years...there is finally justice for Ami Ortiz and the other victims of the man who's come to be known as the 'Jewish terrorist', Jack Teitel.<br><br>
It was March 2008 when Teitel left a bomb, disguised as a Purim gift basket at the Ortiz family's home in Ariel, Israel. It was meant for David Ortiz, who is the leader of a Messianic Jewish congregation. But, it was discovered instead by the Ortiz's youngest child, Ami. Excited by the candy and other treats he could see through the cellophane, he opened the package...his life would never be the same.<br><br>
Shrapnel and fire exploded in the teenage boy's face. The force of the bomb destroyed much of the Ortiz's apartment and shattered windows throughout their apartment building.<br><br>
Ami was left in a pool of blood, with burns and wounds all over his body. No one thought he would survive. Thanks to the prayers of millions around the world, he did.<br><br>
It would be years before police would even discuss the case openly. Years before an arrest was made. And still more years before a verdict was handed down in the case.<br><br>
Yesterday, Judges Zvi Segal, Moshe Hacohen and Moshe Yair Drori did the brave thing, the right thing, they convicted Jack Teitel of two counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder including that of Ami.<br><br>
There was enormous pressure on these judges. Teitel's lawyers argued that he was insane, and therefore not responsible for his actions. The judges ultimately rejected that argument.<br><br>
Had they found him insane that would have meant a mental facility for Teitel instead of prison. Perhaps he would be out of the hospital within months or years. This would send a signal to others like him, that trying to kill Messianic Jews will only cost you a little bit of time in a hospital. So perhaps it's worth it.<br><br>
Teitel has admitted to attending meetings of the group 'Yad L'Acim' which persecutes Messianic Jews here in Israel. Teitel has admitted to being a 'volunteer' for them.<br><br>
Teitel's actions were the most extreme ever taken against Messianic Jews, but by far, not the only ones. Just recently a Messianic congregation in Kiryat Gat was burned down. Its congregational leader and his wife are continually harassed and have their photos hung up on posters all over town, warning people to 'beware of missionaries'.<br><br>
Messianic Jewish bakery owner, Pnina, still does not have her Kosher certificate from the chief rabbi of Ashdod, despite repeated rulings from Israel's Supreme Court that he must in fact give her the license. The chief rabbi says he'd rather "be hung on a tree" than give her the kosher license. This is the same chief rabbi who was caught on camera by this blogger, comparing Messianic Jews to Hitler and calling for their expulsion from the land of Israel.<br><br>
So persecution persists. But now, at least, those who would seek to emulate Teitel know that there are real consequences to their actions. Even though Yad L'Achim has strong political connections to the Shas party, who's representatives in the Knesset currently control Israel's Ministry of Interior, yesterday's verdict shows that even they can not get away with murder and attempted murder.<br><br>
Teitel will be sentenced next month. We're all praying he will get the maximum sentence of life in prison.<br><br>
Ami Ortiz, while now a college student, still faces many painful surgeries to remove the burns and scars from his body.<br><br>
And next week Israeli voters will have the chance to re-shape our government. Let us pray that Shas and other radical ultra-orthodox political parties, who encourage groups like Yad L'Achim...will have no place in the new leadership of our nation.<br><br>
So may it be.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305842013-01-17T02:00:00-07:002017-01-13T06:44:10-07:00Israel Hayom - January 17, 2013<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: Israel Hayom<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: January 17, 2013<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Reporter: Edna Adato<br>
Title: 'Jewish terrorist' convicted of series of crimes<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=7090">link</a><br><br><b>'Jewish terrorist' convicted of series of crimes</b><br>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;"><img src="//media.israelhayom.co.il/2013/01/17/135841489638597412a_b.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br>
Jack Teitel convicted of two murders and one attempted murder, aggravated assault, planting bombs and incitement in printed materials • During trial, Teitel shouts at the judges, "This brothel has no legitimacy to judge me. I only accept the judgment of the Torah. God is king."<br><br>
Jack Teitel, a U.S.-born Israeli Orthodox Jew dubbed "the Jewish terrorist," was convicted of two counts of murder, one of attempted murder and a series of other charges in the Jerusalem Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.<br><br>
Teitel, a resident of the Shvut Rachel settlement in Samaria, was found guilty of having murdered a taxi driver, Samir Belbisi, in Jerusalem, and a shepherd, Issa Jibran, near Susya, a settlement just south of the Hebron Hills, some 15 years ago.<br><br>
Teitel was also convicted of attempted murder for having planting explosives inside a Purim gift for the Ortiz family in Ariel. A boy in the Ortiz family was seriously injured in the incident. Teitel believed that the family’s father was a "leader of messianic Jews."<br><br>
He was also convicted of aggravated assault for having planted a pipe bomb near the house of Israel Prize laureate Professor Zeev Sternhell in Jerusalem. Sternhell who was injured in the attack, is an expert on fascism and a writer for the newspaper Haaretz.<br><br>
Teitel was also accused of printing and distributing leaflets encouraging the killing of gays, whom he dubbed "Sodomites." In November 2006, he planted an improvised explosive device, which was discovered and detonated by an Israel Police bomb squad. He also planted a bomb near the Beit Jamal Monastery outside Beit Shemesh, apparently after discovering that the monastery conducted missionary work. The explosive detonated and injured a tractor driver from Beit Jala who was working nearby. In May 2007, Teitel also planted a bomb under a police car in Jerusalem. According to the indictment, Teitel's intention was to send a message to the police not to allow the Gay Pride parade.<br><br>
At one point during the trial, Teitel shouted at the judges, saying, "This brothel has no legitimacy to judge me. I only accept the judgment of the Torah. God is king."<br><br>
Teitel's sentence will be handed down on Feb. 13. His attorneys, Asher Oyahon and Michael Ironi, said Teitel was mentally ill and that he believed he was carrying out his crimes "at the behest of an angel."</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305462013-01-16T13:00:00-07:002017-02-01T12:30:40-07:00Nana TV (Israel) - January 16, 2013<iframe width="533" height="300" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2PKfpgd19dI?rel=0"></iframe>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305812013-01-16T06:00:00-07:002013-01-16T06:00:00-07:00JTA - January 16, 2013<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: JTA<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: January 16, 2013<br>
Country: USA<br>
Title: Jewish terrorist Jack Teitel convicted of murdering two Palestinians<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.jta.org/news/article/2013/01/16/3117051/jewish-terrorist-jack-teitel-convicted-of-murdering-two-palestinians">link</a><br><br>
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Yaakov (Jack) Teitel, a U.S.-born Jewish terrorist, was convicted of murdering two Palestinians and the attempted murder of two other people.<br><br>
Teitel, 40, also was convicted Jan. 16 in Jerusalem District Court of premeditated murder, attempted murder, illegal possession of firearms, arms manufacturing and incitement to violence.<br><br>
The Florida native, who made aliyah in 2000, has been held in an Israeli jail since his arrest in October 2009.<br><br>
Along with killing two Palestinians and attempting to murder five Jews and Arabs, he also assembled a package bomb that seriously injured the son of a messianic Jew in Ariel and set up a pipe bomb near the home of prominent left-wing professor Ze'ev Sternhell.<br><br>
The crimes occurred between 1997 and 2008.<br><br>
Teitel had been found unfit to stand trial about two years ago, but a year ago the court determined that Teitel could go on trial for murder. Last year Teitel confessed to the crimes but said he did not recognize the court's authority. <br><br>
The conviction said that Teitel was in full control of mental faculties at the time of the murders and responsible for his actions.<br><br>
Teitel is a resident of the Shvut Rachel outpost in the northern West Bank. He has four children. <left></left>
</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305822013-01-16T04:00:00-07:002013-01-16T04:00:00-07:00Updated News (Canada) l January 16, 2013<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: Updated News (Canada)<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: January 16, 2013<br>
Country: Canada<br>
Title: Israeli Jack Teitel convicted of murdering two Palestinians<br>
Reporter: BBC News<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://updatednews.ca/2013/01/16/israeli-jack-teitel-convicted-of-murdering-two-palestinians/">link</a><br><br>
A court in Jerusalem has convicted a US-born Israeli of murdering two Palestinians in 1997.<br><br>
Jack Teitel, who lived in the West Bank a Jewish settlement of Shvut Rachel, was also convicted of attempting to murder two others.<br><br>
He was also found guilty of assault with intent and incitement to violence between 1997 and 2008.<br><br>
After his arrest in 2009, his defence lawyers claimed that he was insane and therefore unfit to stand trial.<br><br>
But, after receiving contradictory psychiatric reports, the court established a year ago that he could be tried.<br><br>
Teitel will be sentenced in the coming weeks, court officials have said.<br><br>
According to court transcripts, in 1997 Teitel murdered Palestinian taxi driver Samir Akram, shooting him dead at point-blank range.<br><br>
Later that year he shot dead Issa Jabarin, a Palestinian shepherd.<br><br>
Teitel was also convicted of the attempted murder of teenager Ami Ortiz in 2008, whose family are Messianic Jews – Jews who believe in Jesus as a saviour.<br><br>
Mr Ortiz, who was 15 at the time, was seriously wounded when a bomb, hidden inside a gift, exploded.<br><br>
In addition, Teitel was found guilty of targeting a prominent left-wing Israeli historian, Zeev Sternhell, with a pipe-bomb hidden in a plant outside his house in 2008.<br><br>
Teitel was also convicted on the charge of inciting violence and terror, after he pledged to pay a sum to anyone who killed gay Israelis.<br><br>
(BBC News)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><left></left></div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305732013-01-15T17:00:00-07:002013-01-15T17:00:00-07:00BBC - January 16, 2013<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: BBC<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: January 16, 2013<br>
Country: UK<br>
Section: News / Middle East<br>
Title: Israeli Jack Teitel convicted of murdering two Palestinians<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-21041461">link</a><br><br>
Israeli Jack Teitel convicted of murdering two Palestinians<br><br>
A court in Jerusalem has convicted a US-born Israeli of murdering two Palestinians in 1997.<br><br>
Jack Teitel, who lived in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Shvut Rachel, was also convicted of attempting to murder two others.<br><br>
He was also found guilty of assault with intent and incitement to violence between 1997 and 2008.<br><br>
After his arrest in 2009, his defence lawyers claimed that he was insane and therefore unfit to stand trial.<br><br>
But, after receiving contradictory psychiatric reports, the court established a year ago that he could be tried.<br><br>
Teitel will be sentenced in the coming weeks, court officials have said.<br><br>
According to court transcripts, in 1997 Teitel murdered Palestinian taxi driver Samir Akram, shooting him dead at point-blank range.<br><br>
Later that year he shot dead Issa Jabarin, a Palestinian shepherd.<br><br>
Teitel was also convicted of the attempted murder of teenager Ami Ortiz in 2008, whose family are Messianic Jews - Jews who believe in Jesus as a saviour.<br><br>
Mr Ortiz, who was 15 at the time, was seriously wounded when a bomb, hidden inside a gift, exploded.<br><br>
In addition, Teitel was found guilty of targeting a prominent left-wing Israeli historian, Zeev Sternhell, with a pipe-bomb hidden in a plant outside his house in 2008.<br><br>
Teitel was also convicted on the charge of inciting violence and terror, after he pledged to pay a sum to anyone who killed gay Israelis.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305832012-06-01T07:00:00-06:002012-06-01T07:00:00-06:00The Christian Post l June 1, 2012Publication: The Christian Post<br>
Post Type: Online<br>
Date: June 1, 2012<br>
Country: USA<br>
Section: World<br>
Title: Victims of Explosion in Israel Lament Plea Agreement<br>
Reporter: Compass Direct News<br>
Article: <a href="http://www.christianpost.com/news/victims-of-explosion-in-israel-lament-plea-agreement-75894/" target="_new">Link</a><br><br><div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Victims of Explosion in Israel Lament Plea Agreement</b><br><br>
Ultra-right Jew who planted bomb ruled guilty but not responsible<br><br>
JERUSALEM – A Messianic Jewish congregation leader whose son was almost killed by a bomb planted by an ultra-right wing Jew said he feels like the Israeli criminal justice system has abandoned him.<br><br>
On Monday (May 28), the Jerusalem District Court approved a plea agreement for the man accused of bombing pastor David Ortiz's home, Jack Teitel, without consulting Ortiz or his attorneys, Ortiz said. The plea agreement is unique in that the court said Teitel committed the acts, but it did not hold him responsible for committing them.<br><br>
Ortiz, leader of the Congregation of Ariel, said the prosecutor's office has also consistently misled his attorneys about basic information on important court filings for the case. Teitel has multiple charges against him for several acts of violence, including two killings, but prosecutors in Ortiz's case have sidelined or deliberately avoided him, Ortiz said. The Ortiz family opposes any plea bargain.<br><br>
"They are doing it without any kind of consultation with us," Ortiz said. "The victims are either supposed to either OK it or reject it. They can't just make a plea bargain without consulting the victims. They are trying to ignore us."<br><br>
The prosecutor that is supposed to be protecting Ortiz's interests is neglecting his duty, he added.<br><br>
"He doesn't want to be seen protecting Christians," Ortiz said. "It doesn't benefit him in society."<br><br><b>Attack</b><br><br>
On March 20, 2008, Teitel placed a Purim basket laden with explosives at the front door of the Ortiz apartment in Ariel, Israel, according to a confession Teitel made to police. The bomb was meant to kill Ortiz, who runs an active ministry in Israel and in parts of the Occupied Territories.<br><br>
A part-time housekeeper brought the basket into the apartment and set it on a kitchen table. When the pastor's son, 15-year-old Ami Ortiz, opened the basket, it disappeared in an explosion that destroyed the Ortiz apartment and left Ami writhing in his blood on the kitchen floor.<br><br>
In June the Jerusalem District Court is supposed to have another hearing to determine if Teitel is "criminally responsible" for the shootings and bombings. David Ortiz said he has long been concerned that the prosecution will make a deal with the defense in which they will say Teitel was insane when he set the bomb, thus making him not responsible for what he did.<br><br>
For Ami, the question isn't about how much time Teitel spends in prison, but whether his heart is changed when he is released.<br><br>
"I have forgiven him," Ami said. "I never felt the need for revenge. I have never felt any kind of hate for Jack Teitel. I hope God talks to him. I hope someone says to him something that will make him think about where he is heading in life. Is what he's doing right?"<br><br>
Ami said he wants Teitel to accept Yeshua as Messiah. If one hour in jail led Teitel to a changed heart, "one hour would be great," he said.<br><br><b>After the Blast</b><br><br>
Ami said that while he was on the floor after the explosion, he couldn't see or move. He could barely breathe and hear. Surprisingly, he still remembers the explosion.<br><br>
"To me it sounded like a balloon popping, because it messed up my ears," he said.<br><br>
Moments later, his apartment was full of people.<br><br>
"I tried to get up, but they pushed me back down," he said. "I was bleeding. I couldn't see anything, and it was hard for me to breathe, so I was kind of panicky."<br><br>
Someone asked him what was going on, and he said that the package had exploded.<br><br>
"In the beginning I didn't feel pain – I just felt it was hard for me to breathe, very hard," he said. "I had to fight for my breath every time. I would talk; people would make me talk to make sure I was alive. I didn't feel any pain, my whole body was numb. "<br><br>
About 20 minutes later, paramedics arrived at the scene and took Ami to a hospital. In the ambulance, the pain came over him suddenly and overwhelmingly, he said.<br><br>
"I started panicking in there. I was afraid, very afraid, because I could hear my situation with the two paramedics talking between themselves. I really got it – and then the pain started."<br><br>
His legs began to feel like they were burning, he said.<br><br>
"It felt like my legs were broken. It's a strange pain. I can't describe it, but it's nothing I had ever felt before. I really couldn't take it. I asked them to put me down, and I woke up eight days later."<br><br><b>Recovery</b><br><br>
For David Ortiz and his wife Leah, Ami's recovery was at once gut-wrenching and faith-affirming.<br><br>
Ami's body was shattered. He spent eight hours in surgery with doctors doing two-hour rotations in the operating room. Ortiz said that at one time he felt like he had fallen into a "black hole." He remembers sitting down in the hospital thinking, "I'm gone, I can never get that back."<br><br>
Leah Ortiz, spiraling in her own despair, told her husband, "I'm losing it."<br><br>
David Ortiz said it was then, sitting in his son's hospital room, that he saw an image of Jesus on a throne and felt God speaking to him. He leaned in close to his wife and, as the message was revealed to him, he whispered it word by word into her ear, he said: "A decision has been made in made in heaven that you will not understand, but I have decided to glorify Myself. Ami is going to walk out of the hospital."<br><br>
When Ami was carried into the hospital, doctors said his condition was, "matzav anush," or hopeless. But by 6 a.m., the lead doctor taking care of Ami approached the Ortiz family with a confession, of sorts.<br><br>
"I have no medical terms to describe it," he said, according to Leah Ortiz. "I cannot speak to you in medical terms. Your son has experienced a miracle."<br><br><b>Legal Action</b><br><br>
On Nov. 12, 2009, prosecutors indicted Teitel for the Ortiz bombing. They also indicted him on a host of other charges related to the shootings or attempted killings of several other victims.<br><br>
Along with the Ortiz case, police said Teitel was responsible for the June 1997 shooting death of Samir Bablisi, a Palestinian taxi driver who was found in his cab with a single bullet wound to his head. Two months later, police said, Teitel shot Isa Jabarin, a Palestinian shepherd who was giving Teitel driving directions to Jerusalem.<br><br>
Police also said that Teitel attempted to set fire to a monastery he believed was harboring missionaries and made several unsuccessful bombing attempts. He is accused in a September 2008 bombing that slightly wounded emeritus history professor Ze'ev Sternhell of Hebrew University in Jerusalem.<br><br>
Teitel, 39, immigrated to Israel from the United States in 2000, is married and has four children. He lived in the West Bank settlement of Shvut Rachel, near Jerusalem. Police said that Teitel is an ultra-Orthodox Jewish nationalist who picked out his targets based on his nationalist philosophy.<br><br>
Following his arrest, Teitel underwent at least two psychiatric evaluations. He was declared unfit for trial in the first evaluation in 2010. Tests afterward cleared him to stand trial.<br><br><b>Moving On</b><br><br>
In many ways, Ami has moved beyond the attack. Scars and emotional damage will be with him the rest of his life, but Ami sees the bombing as a defining moment in his life that he refuses to let define who he is.<br><br>
The bomb was meant to kill or at minimum maim David Ortiz and stop his ministry to the Jews in Israel. But instead it changed Ami, who admits that before the blast he wasn't that serious about his faith and hardly ever talked about it.<br><br>
"I was just born into it. I never did anything special. I was just living my life," Ami said. "I never really thought about it."<br><br>
After the bombing, that all changed, he said.<br><br>
"You ask yourself, 'Where do you stand?' You have to start taking things seriously, because things are getting serious."<br><br>
Now Ami, who attends a Bible college in the United States, talks openly about his faith, if for no other reason than that his history is emblazoned on his body in the form of scar tissue and residual metal fragments. He takes his role as a spokesman in stride.<br><br>
"It's not something I try to avoid or will try to avoid, because it is not something I will be able to," he said. "I am living my life wherever God wants to take me. I know there's a reason for it, so I'm just going to play along. I'm not going to fight it."<br><br>
Ami sees part of what happened to him as a warning for other Christians, be they gentiles or Jews who believe that Jesus is the Messiah. Persecution is coming, he said.<br><br>
"It's the start," he said of the kind of persecution that he suffered. "We know from the Bible it's going to get much worse. Persecution of a higher level will come. If not five years, 10 years. If not 10 years, 15. It's not far."</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305752012-05-29T08:00:00-06:002017-01-13T06:44:10-07:00The Jerusalem Post l May 29, 2012<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: The Jerusalem Post<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: May 29, 2012<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Court determines Teitel murdered Palestinians<br>
Reporter: Joanna Paraszczuk<br>
Section: National News<br>
Article: <a href="http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=248530" target="_new">link</a><br><br><b> Court determines Teitel murdered Palestinians</b><br><br>
By Joanna Paraszczuk<br><br>
Judges accept unusual plea bargain, will rule next month whether "Jewish Terrorist" was criminally responsible for his actions.<br>
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<div><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/25847/ae3b9774ccff34076dff41743ad65b071747b82a/original/Jack-Teitel_JPost_120711.jpg?1377783041" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="187" width="311" /></div>
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The Jerusalem District Court on Monday approved an unusual plea bargain made between the district attorney and lawyers representing Jack Teitel, and determined that Teitel had murdered two Palestinians and committed other violent crimes.<br><br>
Judges Zvi Segal, Moshe Hacohen and Moshe Yair Drori said that the court determined that Teitel committed the acts attributed to him in an amended indictment.<br><br>
The amended indictment includes ten of the original fourteen charges against Teitel, including two murders and two attempted murders, after the prosecution agreed to remove charges relating to attempted attacks which the authorities had foiled.<br><br>
While the judges found Teitel had committed the acts they did not formally convict him. Instead, the court will reconvene next month to determine whether Teitel was criminally responsible for his actions when he committed the offenses.<br><br>
Although he agreed to admit the charges, Teitel refused to come and speak directly to the court because he does not recognize its authority. Instead, Teitel's attorney Asher Ohayon told the court that Teitel admitted the charges in the amended indictment.<br><br>
Dubbed “the Jewish Terrorist,” Florida-born Teitel, 39, was originally indicted in 2009.<br><br>
Teitel is charged with the 1997 murder of Palestinian taxi driver Samir Balbisi, who was found shot dead in his taxicab.<br><br>
According to the indictment, in around May 1997, when Teitel was still in the US, he decided to murder Palestinians and came to Israel for that purpose, smuggling a gun into the country by hiding it in a VCR.<br><br>
Teitel spent his first weeks in Israel with friends in Jerusalem.<br><br>
Later, he acquired bullets for his smuggled gun, and sought out a suitable victim to murder.<br><br>
The indictment said Teitel chose to murder an Arab taxi driver because he thought he could ask the driver to first drive him to a suitable spot.<br><br>
On June 8, 1997, Teitel went to the Arab taxi rank at the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem, the indictment said, where he hired Balbisi and told him to take him to a hotel.<br><br>
After driving for a while, however, Teitel told Balbisi to stop and wait, before shooting the Palestinian in the head at point blank range.<br><br>
The indictment also charges Teitel with the murder of a second Palestinian man, Beduin shepherd Isaa Mousa’af Mahamada, who was shot dead near the West Bank settlement of Carmel, near Hebron, in August 1997.<br><br>
In 2000, Teitel immigrated to Israel and lived in Shvut Rachel, a West Bank settlement north of Jerusalem, where he married and had four children. That same year, he was arrested by police on suspicion of carrying out both the 1997 murders, but later released for lack of evidence.<br><br><b>In March 2008, according to the indictment, Teitel attempted to murder 15-year-old Amiel Ortiz, a Messianic Jewish teen from Ariel.</b><br><br><b>Teitel sent a bomb in a Purim gift basket to the Ortiz’s home, which exploded when Ortiz opened it.</b><br><br>
Other charges include planting homemade explosives at the home of Prof. Ze’ev Sternhell, a left-wing scholar from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in September 2008; attempting to murder a resident of the Beit Jamal monastery near Beit Shemesh, because he believed the monastery inhabitants were missionaries who tried to convert Jewish children; and attacking a police station in 2006 during a gay pride parade.<br><br>
Following his arrest in 2009, Teitel was remanded in custody in a secure psychiatric facility, and though an initial psychiatric assessment in 2010 deemed him unfit to stand trial, later tests showed that he was able to face prosecution.<br><br>
In Monday's hearing, the judges ruled that the court will reconvene on June 28 to discuss whether Teitel had been responsible for his actions when he carried out the offenses.<br><br>
Teitel's lawyers are expected to argue that their client did not know right from wrong when he committed the acts, and therefore the court cannot impose a prison term.<br><br>
The prosecution are expected to argue that Teitel was responsible for his actions when committing the crimes.<br><br>
If the judges find Teitel was responsible for his actions, as the prosecution will argue, the court will likely impose a long prison term. The mandatory sentence for murder is life in prison.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305422012-05-29T07:00:00-06:002012-05-29T07:00:00-06:00JTA l May 29, 2012<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: JTA<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: May 28, 2012<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Jewish terrorist strikes plea bargain<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/05/29/3096761/jewish-terrorist-strikes-plea-bargain">link<br></a> <b><br>
Jewish terrorist strikes plea bargain<br><br></b>JERUSALEM (JTA) -- A Jewish terrorist who was found unfit to stand trial two years ago has struck a plea bargain with a Jerusalem court.<br><br>
Jack Teitel, 39, and the father of four young children, admitted to the charges -- two counts of murder, five counts of attempted murder, incitement and weapons violations, and one count of arson -- but refused to appear before the court, whose authority he does not recognize, according to The Jerusalem Post.<br><br>
Teitel was arrested on Oct. 7, 2009 in a joint police-Shin Bet operation.<br><br>
The Jerusalem District Court determined Monday that Teitel killed two Palestinians and attempted to murder five Jews and Arabs. <b>He also allegedly assembled a package bomb that seriously injured the son of a messianic Jew</b> and allegedly set up a pipe bomb near the home of prominent left-wing professor Ze'ev Sternhell.<br><br>
The court will reconvene next month to determine whether Teitel was criminally responsible for his actions, the Post reported.<br><br>
A Florida native, Teitel made aliyah in 2000 and was a resident of the Shvut Rachel outpost in the northern West Bank.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305632012-05-28T07:00:00-06:002012-05-28T07:00:00-06:00YNet News l May 28, 2012<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: YNet News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: May 28, 2012<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Court: Jewish terrorist Jack Teitel committed offenses<br>
Reporter: Aviad Glickman<br>
Section: Israel News<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4235134,00.html">link</a><br><b><br>
Court: Jewish terrorist Jack Teitel committed offenses<br></b><br>
The Jerusalem District Court approved a plea bargain with the attorneys of Jewish terrorist Jack Teitel and ruled that he did in fact commit the crimes he is accused of: Two counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder, assault and additional violent offences.<br><br>
As first revealed by Ynet – an amended indictment was filed against Teitel where the statement that his acts were committed over his hatred and opposition to groups and individuals whose lifestyle and outlook did not match his beliefs was removed from the indictment. (Aviad Glickman)</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305742012-03-09T05:00:00-07:002012-03-09T05:00:00-07:00ICEJ l March 9, 2012Publication: ICEJ (Internation Christian Embassy Jerusalem<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: March 9, 2012<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Ortiz family gets scare on anniversary of Purim bombing<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://int.icej.org/news/headlines/ortiz-family-gets-scare-anniversary-Purim-bombing">link</a><br><br><b>Ortiz family gets scare on anniversary of Purim bombing</b><br><br><div style="text-align: justify;">On the fourth anniversary of the Purim basket bomb attack that almost killed their teenage son Ami, the Ortiz family in Ariel received a scare on Thursday when another package was deposited on their doorstep by a man who rang the doorbell and then ran away. The four adults and two children who were in the apartment at the time called the police, who dispatched over 20 officers, two fire trucks and the bomb squad to their aid. The street was closed off, the building evacuated and the family extracted from the apartment through the window by the lift on one of the fire trucks. The bomb squad including a robot went back into the apartment by the same method and sent the robot to examine it. The package turned out to be filled with harmless food products. “A representative from the religious community showed up and said that they were doing a project through the Orthodox elementary school in town to give food packages to needy families and it was delivered to us by mistake,” said Pastor David Ortiz. “But the media and the security services said they didn't buy that story so quickly and they're trying to find out if it was a bad joke to scare us or if it was truly a mistake.”</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305652012-03-09T02:00:00-07:002017-01-13T06:44:09-07:00CBN News l March 9, 2012Publication: CBN News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: March 9, 2012<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Déjà vu for Messianic Bombing Victims<br>
Reporter: Tzippi Barrow<br>
Section: Inside Israel<br>
Article: <a href="http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2012/March/Deja-vu-for-Messianic-Bombing-Victims/" target="_new">link</a>
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Déjà vu for Messianic Bombing Victims<br>
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<div style="text-align: left;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/25847/8c4a028d9ef6dcca8fcc92c5743bbbaf430c8dee/original/OrtizRescue_LG-1.jpg?1377783041" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="240" width="320" /></div>
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JERUSALEM, Israel -- Four years after a Messianic Jewish teenager was critically injured by a bomb hidden in a Purim gift package, an unknown prankster may have played a "joke" on the same family Thursday.<br><br>
CBN News covered the bombing in March 2008, which nearly killed 15-year-old Ami Ortiz, embedding shrapnel and severely burning his face, neck, chest and hands.<br><br>
Ami's father, David Ortiz, who pastors a Messianic fellowship in Ariel, sent an email detailing the incident.<br><br>
Thursday's 'Event'<br><br>
About 12:30 p.m., the security cameras showed a man placing a large carton at their front door, ringing the bell and then hurrying down the stairs.<br><br>
"We immediately called the police, closed our steel enforced door and went into the bedroom furthest away from the hallway," Pastor David wrote. "Then we called all the believers in town to warn them about any suspicious packages at their doors or next to their property."<br><br>
For the next three hours, police, firemen and an IDF bomb squad took over. The four adults and two children in the Ortiz apartment were evacuated by a fire truck lift. Police evacuated the rest of the residents, who moved cars from the street as police cordoned off the area.<br><br>
Reporters and cameramen began arriving, some recalling the Purim bombing there four years ago.<br><br>
"Why is it when Jews believe in Yeshua (Jesus in Hebrew), everything changes," one photographer asked the Ortiz family. Any other beliefs don't seem to "make a difference" he said. <br><br>
A short time later, a religious Jew arrived and told police the local Orthodox Jewish elementary school was giving Purim food packages to needy families. This one was delivered to the Ortiz family "by mistake," he said.<br><br>
The media and security services "didn't buy that story so quickly," Ortiz explained in the email, saying they were investigating whether it was "a bad joke to scare us or if it truly was a mistake."<br><br>
In any case, "the event was very costly -- bringing in all that equipment and manpower," he explained.<br><br>
The head of the bomb squad commended them for doing the right thing. He had been there four years ago and said they must never hesitate to call when anything suspicious happens.<br><br>
Ya'akov "Jack" Teitel<br><br>
The man charged with attempting to murder the Ortiz family, Ya'akov "Jack" Teitel, also murdered two Arabs -- a taxi driver and a shepherd -- and wounded Israeli Prize Laureate Prof. Zev Sternhill with a bomb he planted at his home.<br><br>
In court, a smiling Teitel flashed the peace sign, saying "it was my pleasure and honor to serve my God."<br><br>
"God is proud of what I have done," he said. "I have no regrets."<br><br>
Though he was initially declared fit to stand trial for his nationalistically motivated crimes, in mid-February, his lawyers reached a plea bargain with the Jerusalem District's Prosecutor's Office.<br><br>
They entered a guilty plea on their client's behalf (he doesn't accept the court's jurisdiction) to the two murders on the condition of filing a revised indictment that omitted information from the original charges.<br><br>
His lawyers hope the new indictment will convince the court that Teitel was not responsible for his actions, paving the way for admission to a psychiatric facility in lieu of consecutive life sentences.<br><br>
In theory, Teitel could be released in several years, according to the recommendations of the medical staff.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305542012-03-08T06:00:00-07:002017-02-01T12:30:44-07:00Jerusalem-News.net l March 8, 2012Publication: Jerusalem-News.net<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: March 8, 2012<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Bomb Scare in Ariel<br>
Written by: David & Leah Ortiz<br>
Article: <a href="http://jerusalemnewsnet.wordpress.com/2012/03/10/bomb-scare-in-ariel/" target="_new">link</a><br><br><b>Bomb Scare In Ariel</b><br><br><div style="text-align: left;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/25847/6ce6d608daead116cc561ee485b41f3a01cab5cf/original/Ortiz_030812.jpg?1377783041" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="226" width="302" /></div>
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Shalom! For those who have heard that something took place today at our house in Ariel, we had an incident at about 12:30, when a large, closed, brown carton was brought to our door and left by someone. When we looked on our security cameras, we saw a man in his 30′s wearing a kippa, with a Purim mask not on his face but put up on his head, bringing the package, ringing the doorbell and then running down the stairs. We immediately called the police, closed our steel enforced door and went into the bedroom furthest away from the hallway. Then we called all the believers in town to warn them about any suspicious packages at their doors or next to their property.<br><br>
At least 20 policemen arrived, along with the bomb squad (hablanim) that had to came from an IDF base in the Nablus area around 20 kilometers from Ariel , two fire trucks, police cars, etc. Blocking off the street. It took about an hour and a half for the security services to understand the layout of the apartment and they felt it was better to not come in through the stairs in case they were booby trapped and because the hallway is an enclosed area they felt it was better to come in through the window and to take us out through the window. All this was done with the help of our sons who were outside. It took a couple of hours to take us out of our 3rd floor apartment by the window using a lift on one of the fire trucks. We had to be taken down two by two – we were four adults and two small children in the apartment- they said they had to be careful as it was a new computerized lift that they had never used before. The bomb squad also lifted themselves up through the window with the robot and when they saw the box, they were very alarmed and they called out to the others from the window, saying it wasn’t like a traditional Purim gift package (mishloach manot) and it was suspicious. They told everyone to get back. They sent the robot into the hallway, and destroyed the box which turned out to be filled with food products, which was a relief not only to us but also to our neighbors who had also been evacuated from their apartments. They had to move their cars away from the building as well.<br><br>
All these efforts lasted for 3 hours. The media showed up on the scene, and even though they told us that it was too late for anything to be put on the air today, maybe on Sunday there will be a follow up report on this. Leah was interviewed by phone and they wanted to know how we are after 4 years, and how Ami was doing. There was a photographer that showed up and he was asking us why is it that when Jews believe in Yeshua, everything changes for us, while if we believe in other beliefs, it doesn’t seem to make a difference.<br><br>
A representative from the religious community showed up and said that they were doing a project through the Orthodox elementary school in town to give food packages to needy families and it was delivered to us by mistake, but the media and the security services said they didn’t buy that story so quickly and they’re trying to find out if it was a bad joke to scare us or if it was truly a mistake. The event was very costly – bringing in all that equipment and man power. The people from the media continue to called us up sounding upset and are telling us that it sounds very suspicious to them, and that if it is a mistake it is unexcusable. The head of the bomb squad told us he had been at our house four years ago, and that we have to always be very careful and not hesitate to call them when something suspicious happens. He commended us for doing the right thing.<br><br>
Thank you for your concern,<br><br>
David and Leah Ortiz and family<br><br><iframe width="450" height="259" frameborder="0" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/C-1IUb6FHO4?rel=0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br><br><b>Ami’s story</b><br><br>
On March 20th, 2008, 15-year-old Ami Ortiz stayed home from school. It was Purim – a Jewish festival in which holiday baskets are sent to friends and acquaintances to commemorate the Jews’ thwarting of Haman’s evil plot as recorded in the book of Esther in the Bible. To Ami’s delight, someone left a holiday package on the Ortiz family’s doorstep. When young Ami opened the package, it exploded in his face, filled his body with hundreds of pieces of shrapnel and left him in critical condition. Ami’s father, David, is a pastor of a Messianic community in the town of Ariel. Apparently, this was not an attempt to injure a fifteen year old boy, but rather an attempt to murder a minister of the gospel in Israel.<br><br>
A police investigation was opened after the bombing. However, the Israeli police were extremely indifferent and apparently negligent in conducting the inquiry. The surveillance cameras which had been installed by the Ortiz family actually managed to film the person who delivered the package. They handed this recording over to the authorities; but to their dismay, no arrests were made and the police refused to return the tape to the Ortiz family. A year after the tape was confiscated by the police and after repeated refusals by them to release their property, the family brought the matter to court. With Ami and his parents present, the judge ruled to return the tape to the Ortiz family.<br><br>
In May 2008, a day after a revealing expose on the issue was aired on Israeli television (Channel 1, “Yoman Shishi”), police contacted the Ortiz family asking them to resend many important documents pertaining to the investigation – the original copies had been lost. This proves that nothing had been done until the issue was brought to the media, two months after the actual event. Distinguished lawyers and representatives of pro-Israeli organizations tried to bring this case before government officials. Promises were made, but with no satisfactory results. It is suspected that a number of high-ranking officials and fundamentalist Rabbis in Israel are to this day, attempting to engage in a serious cover-up of the true situation.<br><br>
Ami’s story was also covered by the prestigious program “Uvda” which is a documentary news program that delves into news stories in depth. It especially features stories where justice is not being served. It had a powerful affect on the Israeli public, further revealing the fact that in Israel there is a large community of Jews who believe that Yeshua is the Messiah according to the prophecies of the Tenach. It exposed the hatred and opposition of the anti-Messianic group Yad L’achim. David and Leah received calls of support from Israelis all over Israel for days afterwards, condemning the bombing and expressing their support for their family. CBN, Maoz, and the Jerusalem Institute for Justice have covered the case with powerful videos as well.<br><br>
In January 2010, a full length documentary was released in Korea called “Restoration”. Made by a Korean Christian film company, they captured the subject of the persecution of the Messianic Body in Israel, using Ami’s case as their focal point. It was a huge success in Korea, playing in movie theatres for 4 months, and won the Monaco Film Festival prize in 2010 for best feature length documentary.<br><br>
We are concerned that if violence against Messianic believers in Israel goes unchecked by the prosecuting authorities, it can create a slippery slope of continuing violence towards the community. A case in point, about two months after the Ortiz bombing, in May of 2008, hundreds of copies of the New Testament were publically burned by fanatic yeshiva students in Or Yehuda, a small town near Tel Aviv. Or Yehuda’s deputy mayor, Uzi Aharon, went on record at the time of the burning and called the actions of the yeshiva students a “commandment.” Furthermore, Aharon refused to unequivocally condemn the burning of the books; he even admitted that he had helped organize the mass book burning. A complaint has been submitted to the police in light of criminal laws in Israel which prohibit desecration of sacred texts and public humiliation of religious groups.<br>
The police began an investigation of this incident, and took the testimonies of Mr. Charles Kopp and Mr. Harry Tees from the United Christian Council Israel. They functioned as witnesses and swore that the books in the photos of the burning in the Newspapers were in fact New Testaments. The police officers heading the investigation claimed that once the Attorney General, Mr. Menahem Mazuz gives them his approval, they will summon Mr. Aharon for questioning. As of today, this has not happened.<br><br>
Since then, two churches in Jerusalem have been attacked by arsonists and burned, a Pastor’s car in Beit Shaen has been firebombed, a Messianic baker’s business has been denied the Kashrut license only because she is a Messianic believer, jobs have been lost and visas and citizenship denied because of faith in Yeshua.<br><br>
Fliers, showing pictures of Messianic leaders and congregational members have been circulated in every major city and many smaller settlements in Israel. These fliers contain a message to the public to be aware of missionaries who are trying to steal the souls of Jews, and who masquerade as Jews but are not. Names and addresses have been published under the pictures, which is against the law. In Ariel, the fliers were posted in every bus stop from Tel Aviv to Ariel, a distance of 45 kilometers. We do not know if the perpetrators of the bombing in the Ortiz home were the ones who published these fliers, but at the very least, the fliers incited and helped them to identify the family and their address.<br><br>
Press and media coverage have continued extensively on the Ami Ortiz case. These have not only continued to lift up the name of Yeshua in Israel, but have also continued to put pressure on the authorities to being justice to the case. In May of 2009, the FBI officially became involved in the case, because David and Leah are dual American and Israeli citizens. Their help with the Shin Bet moved the investigation forward quickly until Jack Teitel was arrested on Oct. 7, 2009.<br><br>
“These things have I spoken to you, so that you wouldn’t be caused to stumble. They will put you out of the synagogues. Yes, the time comes that whoever kills you will think that he offers service to God. They will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor Me. But I have told you these things, so that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you about them.” (John 16:1-4 )</div>
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Type: Online<br>
Date: March 8, 2012<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Purim Bomb Scare in Ariel<br>
Article: <a href="http://maoz.convio.net/site/MessageViewer?em_id=20981.0" target="_new">link</a><br><br><b>Purim Bomb Scare in Ariel</b><br><br>
Ortiz apartment after the explosion, 2008This just in from the Ortiz family, who, as you will recall, received a Purim basket this time 4 years ago in 2008 that changed their lives forever… here you have it in their own words…<br><br>
...what happened TODAY, Thursday, March 8, 2012<br><br>
For those who have heard that something took place today at our house in Ariel, we had an incident at about 12:30, when a large, closed, brown carton was brought to our door and left by someone. <br><br>
When we looked on our security cameras, we saw a man in his 30's wearing a kippa, with a Purim mask - not on his face but put up on his head, bringing the package, ringing the doorbell and then running down the stairs. <br><br>
We immediately called the police, closed our steel enforced door and went into the bedroom furthest away from the hallway. Then we called all the believers in town to warn them about any suspicious packages at their doors or next to their property.<br><br>
At least 20 policemen arrived, along with the bomb squad (hablanim) that had to come from an IDF base in the Nablus area around 20 kilometers from Ariel, two fire trucks, police cars, etc. blocking off the street - it took a couple of hours to take us out of our 3rd floor apartment by the window using a lift on one of the fire trucks. <br><br>
We had to be taken down two by two - we were four adults and two small children in the apartment - they said they had to be careful as it was a new computerized lift that they had never used before.<br><br>
The bomb squad also lifted themselves up through the window with the robot and when they saw the box, they were very alarmed and they called out to the others from the window, saying it wasn't like a traditional Purim gift package (mishloach manot) and it was suspicious. <br><br>
Ariel - purim 2012 bomb scare, Ortiz home They told everyone to get back. They sent the robot into the hallway, and destroyed the box which turned out to be filled with food products, which was a relief not only to us but also to our neighbors who had also been evacuated from their apartments. They had to move their cars away from the building as well.<br><br>
All these efforts lasted for 3 hours. The media showed up on the scene, and even though they told us that it was too late for anything to be put on the air today, maybe on Sunday there will be a follow up report on this. Leah was interviewed by phone and they wanted to know how we are after 4 years, and how Ami was doing. There was a photographer that showed up and he was asking us why is it that when Jews believe in Yeshua, everything changes for us, while if we believe in other beliefs, it doesn't seem to make a difference.<br><br>
A representative from the religious community showed up and said that they were doing a project through the Orthodox elementary school in town to give food packages to needy families and it was delivered to us by mistake, but the media and the security services said they didn't buy that story so quickly and they're trying to find out if it was a bad joke to scare us or if it was truly a mistake. <br><br>
The event was very costly - bringing in all that equipment and man power. The people from the media continue to call us up sounding upset and are telling us that it sounds very suspicious to them, and that if it is a mistake it is unexcusable.<br><br>
The head of the bomb squad told us he had been at our house four years ago, and that we have to always be very careful and not hesitate to call them when something suspicious happens. He commended us for doing the right thing.<br><br>
Thank you for your concern,<br><br>
David, Leah and family<br><br>
Please Pray!<br><br>
- Prank or no prank, mistake or no mistake - please pray for peace for the Ortiz family who are, no doubt, under attack initiated by the prince of this world himself. Pray against fear and for a sound mind for all members of the family.<br><br>
- Pray that the Israeli Media will cover the story presenting the truth, and for the Lord to give the Ortiz family favor and right words to speak to bring glory to the Lord, God of Israel. <br><br>
- Pray for supernatural protection for all Israeli believers, many of whom are on Yad L'Achim's "target list" for harrassment and persecution. Pray for salvation of those who are now plotting against beleivers in their "zeal" for God.<br><br>
- Pray for Israelis who are asking questions about the incident and about the Messianic faith to see the Truth - that Yeshua is the Messiah the Jewish people have been waiting for for centuries.<br><br>
- Pray for Israel's salvation.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305622012-03-08T04:00:00-07:002012-03-08T04:00:00-07:00MAKO Television l March 8, 2012Publication: Mako<br>
Type: Online / Television<br>
Date: March 8, 2012<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: שוב: משלוח מנות למשפחת אורטיז<br>
Reporter: משה נוסבאום<br>
Article & Video: <a target="_new" href="http://www.mako.co.il/news-channel2/Channel-2-Newscast/Article-9a2fe905b83f531018.htm">link</a><br><br>
שוב: משלוח מנות למשפחת אורטיז<br>
מכבי האש חילצו היום את בני משפחת אורטיז מאריאל שבנם נפצע קשה לפני ארבע שנים מפיצוץ משלוח מנות שהונח ליד דלת ביתם. את המטען אז הניח המחבל היהודי ג'ק טייטל. היום בדיוק באותה השעה, הונח בפתח ביתם, משלוח מנות לא מוכר. בני המשפחה הצליחו לראות את השליח נכנס בריצה לרכבו<br>
משה נוסבאום | המהדורה המרכזית, חדשות 2 | פורסם 08/03/12 20:34 | עודכן 08/03/12 23:44 <br><br><object width="445" height="359"><param name="movie" value="http://rcs.mako.co.il/flash_swf/players/makoPlayer/VideoPlayer.swf?vcmid=572fe905b83f5310VgnVCM100000290011acRCRD&videoChannelId=86806603e7478110VgnVCM100000290c10acRCRD&galleryChannelId=9a2fe905b83f5310VgnVCM100000290011acRCRD&showlogo=0">
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<embed src="http://rcs.mako.co.il/flash_swf/players/makoPlayer/VideoPlayer.swf?vcmid=572fe905b83f5310VgnVCM100000290011acRCRD&videoChannelId=86806603e7478110VgnVCM100000290c10acRCRD&galleryChannelId=9a2fe905b83f5310VgnVCM100000290011acRCRD&showlogo=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="359"></embed></object>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305692012-02-15T06:00:00-07:002012-02-15T06:00:00-07:00YNet News l February 15, 2012<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: YNet News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: February 15, 2012<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: State reaches settlement with Jack Teitel <br>
Reporter: Aviad Glickman<br>
Section: Israel News<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4190367,00.html">link<br></a> <b><br>
State reaches settlement with Jack Teitel<br></b><br>
Teitel's lawyers to confess to murder on his behalf as part of new deal; court set to rule on whether 'Jewish terrorist' can be held accountable for his actions<br><br>
Aviad Glickman<br>
Published: 02.15.12, 18:54 / Israel News<b><br></b><br>
The State has reached a settlement with the attorneys representing <a target="_new" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4017400,00.html">Jack Teitel</a>, who is charged with the murder of two Palestinians and a line of nationalistically-motivated battery counts. The Jerusalem District Prosecutor's Office and Teitel's attorneys informed the Jerusalem District Court of the settlement as part of which the lawyers will confess to the murders on Teitel's behalf.<br><br>
According to the deal, a revised indictment omitting information from the original indictment will be re-filed. In an unusual step, Teitel's attorneys Ahser Ohayon and Michael Aharoni will confess on Teitel's behalf to two counts of murder as he refuses to acknowledge the court's jurisdiction.<br><br>
Related stories:</div>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a target="_new" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4158490,00.html">Court: Jack Teitel fit to stand trial</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a target="_new" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3804111,00.html">Teitel indicted for murder, attempted murder</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a target="_new" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4017400,00.html">Teitel's associates: He's gone mad</a></li>
</ul><div style="text-align: justify;">Teitel was arrested in November 2009 and charged with 14 counts reflecting 12 years of terrorist activity. He is accused of murdering an Arab taxi driver and a shepherd in 1997.<br><br>
After the indictment is filed, Teitel's defense team is slated to argue their client is not responsible for his actions. The State will argue Teitel was aware of his actions at the time of the crime and is fit for trial.<br><br>
The new indictment will likely not address the part which states that the defendant's actions were motivated by his hate and objection to people and groups whose lifestyle contradicts his beliefs. <br><br>
The settlement means there will be no trial which will spare the court of time spent listening to testimonies and holding hearings. Teitel's lawyers hope that the new indictment will help them prove their client was not responsible for his actions.<br><br>
The deal will be presented in court in one month's time and the court will then discuss whether Teitel can be held accountable for his actions. If he is found accountable, Teitel can expect to serve several life sentences, otherwise he will likely be admitted to a psychiatric facility. <b><br></b>
</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305672011-12-09T06:00:00-07:002017-01-13T06:44:09-07:00CBN News l December 9, 2011Publication: CBN News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: December 9, 2011<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Suspect in Ortiz Bombing Case Fit to Stand Trial<br>
Section: Inside Israel<br>
Article: <a href="https://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2011/December/Suspect-in-Ortiz-Bombing-Case-Fit-to-Stand-Trial/" target="_new">link</a>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br><b>Suspect in Ortiz Bombing Case Fit to Stand Trial</b><br>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/25847/045ab4f17761730ed6a6f77e349328134e7386dd/original/CBN_JackTeitel_120911.jpg?1377783041" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="240" width="320" /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br>
The "Jewish terrorist" who tried to murder members of an Israeli Messianic Jewish family because of their faith, has been declared fit to stand trial. <br><br>
The Jerusalem District Court decided this week that Jack Teitel would stand trial for the murder of two Palestinians in separate incidents as well as for placing a bomb disguised as a Purim holiday gift basket at the home of David and Leah Ortiz in 2008.<br><br>
David Ortiz is an outspoken Messianic pastor and his wife Leah is a Messianic Jew. His son Ami, 15 years old at the time, opened the gift package. It exploded in his face, nearly killing him. Doctors said it was a miracle that he survived.<br><br>
Teitel's lawyer had said he did not know if his client should be held criminally accountable for his acts, and last year a psychiatric examination deemed him unfit for trial.<br><br>
Teitel, a religious Jew who was quoted as saying at the time, "I don't know if I'm sane. I don't recognize the jurisdiction of this court. I feel good." However, a later psychiatric evaluation contradicted the first.<br><br>
When the announcement was made more than a year after the attack that Teitel had been arrested, Ami's parents told CBN News they were chilled by the news.<br><br>
"It was very chilling," Ami's mother, Leah, recalled. "In other words, I felt like my heart go cold. Because even though we know that there are people, actual flesh and blood people, that did it, just the fact that we found out what settlement they were from, that there were neighbors."<br><br>
"I felt pain for these people. I prayed for them this morning," Ami's father, David, said. "I mean, he's going to try and kill people, assassinate people, and ruin your whole life."</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305792011-12-07T06:00:00-07:002017-01-13T06:44:10-07:00The Jerusalem Post l December 7, 2011<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: The Jerusalem Post<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: December 7, 2011<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Court rules Yaakov 'Jack' Teitel fit to stand trial<br>
Reporter: Joanna Paraszczuk<br>
Section: National News<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=248530">link</a><br><br><b>Court rules Yaakov 'Jack' Teitel fit to stand trial</b><br><br>
By Joanna Paraszczuk<br>
</div>
<div><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/25847/ae3b9774ccff34076dff41743ad65b071747b82a/original/Jack-Teitel_JPost_120711.jpg?1377783041" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="187" width="311" /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br>
American-born "Jewish Terrorist" indicted on 14 charges including two counts of murder and one of attempted murder<br><br>
The Jerusalem District Court ruled unanimously on Wednesday that Ya'acov 'Jack' Teitel, the American- Israeli indicted on murder and attempted murder charges, is fit to stand trial.<br><br>
The panel of three judges, Zvi Segal, Moshe Hacohen and Moshe Yair Drori, said in Wednesday's hearing that Teitel's ability to conduct his defense was "beyond question" and therefore he is fit to stand trial.<br><br>
RELATED: <a target="_new" href="http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=174804">Teitel trial postponed; state studies psychiatric evaluation</a><br><br>
For a court to rule that a defendant is not fit to stand trial, his attorneys must convince judges that he is suffering from a mental disorder such that he is unable to conduct his<br>
defense or instruct an attorney to do so, because he cannot understand the charges against him, the nature of the criminal proceedings or communicate with his counsel.<br><br>
Dubbed "the Jewish terrorist," Florida-born Teitel, 39, was indicted in 2009 on 14 separate charges including the 1997 murder of Palestinian taxi driver Samir Balbisi, who was found shot dead in his taxicab.<br><br>
The indictment also charges Teitel with the murder of a second Palestinian man, Beduin shepherd Isaa Mousa'af Mahamada, who was shot dead near the West Bank settlement of Carmel, near Hebron, in August 1997.<br><br>
Teitel is alleged to have committed both those murders while he was still a US citizen on vacation in Israel.<br><br>
In 2000, Teitel immigrated to Israel and lived in Shvut Rachel, a West Bank settlement north of Jerusalem, where he married and had four children. That same year, he was<br>
arrested by police on suspicion of carrying out both the 1997 murders, but later released for lack of evidence.<br><b><br>
In March 2008, according to the indictment, Teitel attempted to murder 15-year-old Amiel Ortiz, the son of American Christian missionaries in Ariel.<br><br>
Teitel allegedly sent a bomb in a Purim gift basket to the Ortiz's home, which exploded when Ortiz opened it.</b><br><br>
Other charges include planting homemade explosives at the home of Prof. Ze'ev Sternhell, a left-wing scholar from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in September 2008 and attacking a police station in 2006 during a gay pride parade.<br><br>
Teitel was arrested in Jerusalem in 2009, while distributing leaflets lauding a deadly shooting at a Tel Aviv gay youth center, although police do not believe he was involved<br>
in that attack.<br><br>
Teitel was remanded in custody in a secure psychiatric facility, and though an initial psychiatric assessment in 2010 deemed Teitel unfit to stand trial, later tests showed<br>
that he was able to face prosecution.<br><br>
"We conclude that [Teitel] is not detached from reality, he possesses an impressive verbal ability and is capable of maintaining a good connection with those talking to him,<br>
that he is well aware of the legal process and its outcomes, he knows he is in court and is aware of the various functions of the legal process," Segal said.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305782011-12-07T06:00:00-07:002011-12-07T06:00:00-07:00YNet News l December 7, 2011<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: YNet News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: December 7, 2011<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Court: Jack Teitel fit to stand trial<br>
Reporter: Aviad Glickman<br>
Section: Israel News<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4158490,00.html">link</a><br><br><b>Court: Jack Teitel fit to stand trial</b><br><br>
Trial of 'Jewish terrorist' charged with murder of two Arabs set to resume in coming weeks<br><br>
Aviad Glickman<br>
Published: 12.07.11, 16:38 / Israel News<br><br>
The Jerusalem District Court on Wednesday ruled that the alleged "Jewish terrorist" <a target="_new" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4017400,00.html">Jack Teitel</a> is fit to stand trial for the murder of two Arabs and a series of other serious offences. The court considered various opinions on the matter before reaching a decision. Teitel's trial is set to resume in the following weeks.<br><br>
Attorney Michael Ironi, representing Teitel, motioned for a hearing on his client's criminal accountability. The panel ruled that there are no grounds for summoning expert witnesses again and that a hearing on the issue of accountability will be held during the trial.<br><br>
Related stories:</div>
<ul>
<li><a target="_new" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4017400,00.html"><b>Teitel's associates: He's gone mad</b></a></li>
<li><a target="_new" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4060835,00.html"><b>Teitel seeks conjugal visits</b></a></li>
<li><a target="_new" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3804111,00.html"><b>Teitel indicted for murder, attempted murder</b></a></li>
</ul>
Teitel was seen reading a book and paying little attention to what was going on during Wednesday's court hearing.<br><br>
An <a target="_new" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3804111,00.html">indictment</a> containing 14 counts was filed against Teitel in November 2009.<br><br>
Teitel, 37, a resident of the West Bank settlement of Shvut Rachel, was indicted for the murder of Palestinian taxi driver, Samir Balbisi, in June 1997, and the murder of a Palestinian shepherd just a few months later. He was also charged with laying an explosive device next to a Palestinian home near the West Bank settlement of Eli.<br><br>
He was also indicted for attempting to murder the son of a Messianic family living in Ariel when he sent an explosive device disguised as a Purim gift to their home. In addition, he is charged with rigging a bomb next to Prof. Zeev Sternhell's home.<br><br>
In May 2010, a <a target="_new" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3885221,00.html">professional psychiatric opinion</a> deemed him unfit for trial. "I don't know if I'm sane. I don't recognize the jurisdiction of this court. I feel good," Teitel said at the time. Last August, a second psychiatric evaluation determined the <a target="_new" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3946310,00.html">opposite</a>. <br>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305702011-05-23T03:24:40-06:002017-02-01T12:30:53-07:00MAOZ Israel l May 23, 2011<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: MAOZ Israel<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: May 29, 2011<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Urgent Prayer Request From The Ortiz Family<br>
Section: MAOZ Israel Blog<br>
Article: <a href="http://maozisraelblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/urgent-prayer-request-from-ortiz-family.html" target="_new">link</a><br><b><br>
Urgent Prayer Request From The Ortiz Family</b><br><br><a href="http://maozisraelblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/urgent-prayer-request-from-ortiz-family.html" target="_new"><img src="//3.bp.blogspot.com/-RFnVqsXpcGo/TdojOahWD_I/AAAAAAAABAc/Mk-YEbFRqtY/s320/2_wa.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" /></a><br><br>
Below is an excerpt from an email prayer request from Leah and David Ortiz:<br><br>
Hi to all. A hearing will be taking place (on Monday May 23) in the Yaakov Teitel case to determine whether he is psychologically fit to stand trial. The hearing was set for 14:00 in the district court in East Jerusalem on Salah-a-Din Street, but now the prosecutor called our lawyer and said that the hearing might take place earlier at 11:30 and it might take place behind closed doors.<br>
We feel like we're playing musical chairs, and that we and those who support us are being discouraged from attending the hearing as well as the press. This depletes our energy but it is how it has been since the beginning.For those who don't know, someone hired 13 private psychiatrists to evaluate Teitel's mental state, and it is not clear to anyone where the money came from for this. Also, the last hearing was suddenly postponed for almost two months without any explanation on the day of the hearing when everyone was already sitting in the courtroom. <br><br><b>UPDATE FROM LEAH ORTIZ</b><br><br>
We just heard from our lawyer that the hearing will take place behind closed doors, and that it is not the last hearing or summation of the hearings, but one or two before the last. We will let you know what happened during the hearing when we get the information.<br><br>
Please pray that justice will be done! That Teitel will be found fit to stand trial! Please pray for wisdom for the prosecutors and the Ortiz's legal team. And please pray for the Ortiz family and all the other families who have been victimized by Teitel.<br><br>
Thank you,<br><br>
Leah</div>
<br><iframe width="560" height="349" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Fh9gznkzf6o?rel=0"></iframe>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305662011-03-29T03:24:46-06:002011-03-29T03:24:46-06:00The Jerusalem Post l March 29, 2011<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: The Jerusalem Post<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: March 29, 2011<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: New security bosses will face sharper challenges<br>
Section: Defense<br>
Reporter: Yaakov Katz<br>
Article: <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=214238" target="_new">link</a><br><br>
ARTICLE EXCERPT<br><br>
The Shin Bet usually treads carefully when operating within settlements and working to uncover Jewish terror plans. But there have been cases in recent years – like Jack Teitel, the American- Israeli who allegedly murdered at least two Palestinians and was behind a string of bombings and attacks – that demonstrate the potential danger.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305522011-01-22T18:00:00-07:002017-01-13T06:44:09-07:00YNet News l January 23, 2011<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: YNet News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: January 23, 2011<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Teitel's associates: He's gone mad<br>
Reporter: Yair Altman<br>
Section: Israel News<br>
Article: <a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4017400,00.html" target="_new">link</a><br>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/25847/e63f26a71be3e362d6e76d1f05cfd7dee87e7b18/original/JackTeitel_Ynet_012311.jpg?1377783041" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="350" width="450" /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br>
Teitel's associates: He's gone mad<br><br>
Sources close to 'Jewish terrorist' say Prison Service trying to conceal his deteriorating mental state before court decides if he is fit to stand trial. In one incident, they say, he injured himself while 'fighting demons' in his cell<br><br>
"Jewish terrorist" Yaakov (Jack) Teitel, who was charged with murdering two Arabs, sustained light injuries to his hand at the Ayalon Prison when he imagined he was fighting demons and threw a pot at a mirror in his cell, Ynet learned overnight Sunday.<br><br>
Teitel's associates are accusing the Prison Service of trying to conceal his mental deterioration and preventing him of proper care. According to them, Teitel lost his sanity a long time ago and has even been deemed unfit to stand trial by prison psychiatrists.<br><br>
-<br><br>
Psychiatric Evaluation<br>
Victims: Teitel lying about mental state / Aviel Magnezi<br>
Jewish terror suspect faked psychosis to evade justice, victims' relatives charge following psychiatric evaluation; Arab who shoots Jews is a terrorist, but Jew who shoots Arabs is insane, MK Tibi says<br><a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3885015,00.html" target="_new">Full Story</a><br><br>
-<br><br>
A district court is expected to address the matter this month.<br><br>
Teitel's acquaintances said his mental state has deteriorated over the past few weeks. During this time, they said, he has been "fighting demons" he believes are attacking him, jumps around and hides inside his cell.<br><br>
In one incident Teitel "fought a demon" he claimed was hiding in his mirror. He threw a pot at the mirror and lightly injured his hand. In another incident Teitel was found unraveling the velvet curtain covering the Ark of the prison's synagogue, claiming demons were hovering around it.<br><br><img src="//www.ynetnews.com/PicServer2/24012010/2747804/2_wa.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" /><br>
'Fighting demons.' Teitel in custody (Archive photo: Gil Yohanan)<br><br>
One of Teitel's associates said he should be committed to a mental hospital, "but the Shin Bet is preventing it because in a month's time there is a hearing on his mental state and the prosecution claims he is fit to stand trial. If he is committed the State would essentially be admitting its mistake, so for the time being he is suffering and other inmates are suffering from his behavior."<br><br>
In November 2009 Teitel was indicted for a string of offenses he had allegedly committed over the course of more than a decade, including the murder of two Palestinians, planting an explosives device outside the home of left-wing professor Ze'ev Sternhell and placing a bomb at the home of Messianic Jews in Ariel.<br><br>
Attorney Adi Keidar, who is representing Teitel, said, "The Prison Service is doing everything it can to prevent Teitel from receiving the necessary psychological treatment. His condition has recently deteriorated, but instead of sending him to a psychiatric evaluation at a hospital, he was returned to the ward.<br><br>
"It seems as though the Prison Service is trying to hide the fact that he is deteriorating and that he has not received proper medical treatment. Another prisoner would have been committed to a mental hospital a long time ago," said the attorney.<br><br>
The Israel Prison Service said Teitel was being treated by a psychiatrist from the Health Ministry.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305562010-12-01T06:00:00-07:002010-12-01T06:00:00-07:00Ha'Aretz l December 1, 2010<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: Ha'Aretz<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: December 1, 2010<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: FBI and Shin Bet began tracking 'Jewish terrorist' year before arrest<br>
Reporter: Chaim Levinson<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.haaretz.com/misc/article-print-page/fbi-and-shin-bet-began-tracking-jewish-terrorist-year-before-arrest-1.261271?trailingPath=2.169%2C2.225%2C2.226%2C">link</a><br><br>
FBI and Shin Bet began tracking 'Jewish terrorist' year before arrest<br><br>
Teitel refuses to cooperate with his attorney, saying he does not recognize court's authority.<br><br>
By Chaim Levinson<br><br>
Tags: Israel news Jewish terrorist<br><br>
A year prior to Yakov "Jack" Teitel's arrest, the Shin Bet and the FBI were in close contact as part of an investigation into bombings targeting homosexuals, messianic Christians and left-wing figures, Haaretz has learned.<br><br>
Teitel was arrested on October 7. However, the initial exchanges on the case between the two security services on the case began in October 2008, when a Shin Bet officer, code-named Ariel, contacted the FBI with a request for assistance in the investigation. Eventually, the authorities would come to suspect Teitel as the person behind the bombings.<br><br>
Meanwhile, deliberations were held at the Jerusalem District Court Monday on Teitel's case. Teitel has refused to cooperate with his attorney, saying he does not recognize the court's authority and Monday it appointed two new defense lawyers, who are to respond to the charges against Teitel by next month.<br><br>
The Shin Bet and the police were building a profile of the bomber as avenues of investigation had reached a dead end. One of the conclusions in the investigation was that the bomber probably was an American, which led to the cooperation with the FBI.<br><br>
The Israeli authorities considered translating the pamphlets on how to make explosive devices the bomber had made for dissemination to other intelligence services in the hope of possibly finding a link through their data bases.<br><br>
Haaretz has learned that in May 2009, two FBI agents visited Israel to assist in the Teitel case. The Shin Bet investigators were becoming increasingly convinced Teitel was the prime suspect. The FBI agents shared the information they had on Teitel's activities in the U.S.; he had a police record.<br><br>
Teitel himself told the Shin Bet that in 2000, he fought with his landlord, who threw him out of the apartment. As he fled, Teitel used his car to hit the landlord's dog, and he reportedly carried an unlicensed pistol, fearing trouble with the police. He then fled to Israel.<br><br>
The FBI played a two-fold role. It had information on Teitel but also probed cases involving Americans who have been targets of terrorism. The FBI began investigating such instances in the 1980s with the help of local authorities, and its office in Tel Aviv covers incidents in Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The head of the office met with Lea and David Ortiz, whose son Amiel was badly injured in a Purim package bomb believed to have been sent by Teitel in March 2008.<br><br>
This story is by: Chaim Levinson</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/304682010-11-21T09:55:27-07:002010-11-21T09:55:27-07:00Jerusalem Institute of Justice l November 21, 2010Publication: Jerusalem Institute of Justice<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: November 21, 2010<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: U.S. Report Cites Religious Intolerance in Israel<br>
Section: Enewsletter<br>
Online: <a href="http://jerusaleminstituteofjustice.cmail1.com/T/ViewEmail/r/53C5ACF013A05FE1" target="_new">link</a><br><br>
ARTICLE<br><br><div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>U.S. Report Cites Religious Intolerance in Israel</b><br><br>
The U.S. State Department’s 2010 International Religious Freedom Report, released November 17, found numerous violations of religious freedom in the State of Israel. While the Israeli Basic Law on Human Dignity and Liberty affords the protection of religious freedom to all individuals, the report cited a continuance of governmental and legal discrimination against non-Jews and non-Orthodox streams of Judaism.<br><br>
The report cited cases handled by the Jerusalem Institute of Justice (JIJ) concerning illegal exclusion of citizenship and immigration rights to Jews holding Messianic convictions as well as attempts made by the Ministry of Interior (MOI) to deny services to and/or revoke the citizenship of persons adhering to such beliefs. The report highlighted the MOI’s blatant refusal to comply with an April 2008 High Court ruling, which granted citizenship to three Messianic Jews (a refusal which was overcome this year by a Contempt of Court Petition from JIJ).<br><br>
In addition, instances of individuals being interrogated, detained and denied entry at the Ben-Gurion airport solely for religious reasons or on suspicion of so called "missionary activity" were also cited, while the report asserts the existence of MOI watch lists containing names of suspected individuals.<br><br>
The report maintained that religious minorities, including, Evangelical Christians and Messianic Jews, continue to face harassment, assault, abuse, and persecution by radical Jewish activists and organizations, such as Yad L’Achim (anti-Missionary organization). Among the examples cited was the desecration of a Messianic congregation in Be’er Sheva along with the assaulting of its members by hundreds of Orthodox Jews.<br><br>
Evidence of connections between Yad L’Achim and the MOI was found and cited within the report. “Yad L'Achim pressured landlords, employers, and MOI officials to assist its campaign against groups it deemed ‘dangerous cults,’" the report stated. Furthermore, the report reveals that Jewish terrorist, Yaakov (Jack) Teitel, who was arrested and charged in the bombing of the Ortiz residence, was indeed a member of Yad L’Achim and targeted the Ortiz family due to their Messianic beliefs.<br><br>
With the increase of violations of religious freedom in the State of Israel, Jerusalem Institute of Justice (JIJ) plays a vital role in the fight against religious intolerance and discrimination of religious minorities. Having now handled over 390 cases including 17 Supreme Court victories, JIJ helps to combat the ultra-Orthodox hegemony in Israeli society and to advance Israel’s fledgling democracy. We believe that by doing so, we help to legitimize the Jewish State in the international community. Accordingly, while JIJ fights to preserve civil rights and religious freedom within the nation, it likewise continues to advocate for the State of Israel and enhance her foreign relations and public diplomacy worldwide. After all, regardless of the need to improve in areas of religious freedom, Israel is still the only democracy in the Middle East.<br><br>
To access the U.S. State Department's 2010 International Religious Freedom report on Israel, <a href="http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2010/148825.htm" target="_new">press here</a>.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305552010-10-26T05:45:01-06:002017-01-13T06:44:09-07:00Israel Today l October 24, 2010Publication: Israel Today<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: October 24, 2010<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Messianic family asks for prayer ahead of attacker's trial <br>
Reporter: Ryan Jones<br>
Article: <a href="http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=22094&skintype=G&skinname=_default&skinsrc=printmodule.ascx&containertype=G&containername=_default&containersrc=notitle.ascx&mid=912" target="_new">Print Version</a><br><br><div style="text-align: justify;">
<img src="//www.israeltoday.co.il/Portals/0/101024_teitel.jpg" class="size_orig justify_left border_" alt="" />The family of Ami Ortiz, the Messianic Israeli teenager who was nearly killed by a bomb planted at his doorstep almost 3 years ago, is asking for prayer ahead of the trial of the main suspect in the case. At risk, warned Ami’s mother, Leah Ortiz, is the future safety of believers in Yeshua (Jesus) across Israel.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br>
On Purim 2008, Ami stepped outside his family’s house in the Samarian town of Ariel to find an anonymous holiday package, a common practice during Purim. When he opened it and set off the powerful bomb inside, Ami was critically wounded. Doctors believed he would never fully recover from his injuries, but they were eventually proved wrong, and Ami is today whole and healthy.<br><br>
For years the police dragged their feet investigating the case, presumably because appearing to aid a Messianic family would not be viewed favorably by the Orthodox religious establishment. At one point, the police even made the outlandish assertion that the Ortiz family had brought the attack on themselves by being so open about their faith.<br><br>
Last year, police finally captured Jack Teitel, the man believed behind the Ortiz bombing and a string of other attacks. On December 2, Teitel goes on trial, but his defense is working hard to make sure he is declared mentally unfit for prosecution, and instead have him sent for treatment to a psychiatric hospital.<br><br>
Leah Ortiz explained in a letter to supporters that this is dangerous for two reasons.<br><br>
First, details of the investigation tying Teitel to the aggressive anti-missionary organization Yad L’Achim will not come to light. Bringing that evidence to light would obligate certain legal action against and restraints on Yad L’Achim and the rabbis who back the organization, resulting in far less persecution of Messianic Jews.<br><br>
Second, said Leah, “this will set a very dangerous precedent for the Messianic Community in Israel, as there are many like [Teitel] who will be emboldened and willing to give up a few years of their lives in a mental institution in order to murder those that believe in Yeshua as the promised Messiah.”<br><br>
In light of these dangers, the Ortiz family is asking for prayer that true justice will be served and that Israeli believers will find themselves more secure rather than more imperiled by this ordeal.<br><br>
To learn more about the attack on Ami Ortiz and the ensuing legal battles, visit <a href="./home.cfm">www.amiortiz.com</a>
</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305472010-09-09T07:00:00-06:002017-01-13T06:44:08-07:00CBN News l September 9, 2010Publication: CBN News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: September 9, 2010<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Messianic Jewish Teen's Bomber May Avoid Trial<br>
Section: Inside Israel<br>
Reporter: Chris Mitchell, CBN News Middle East Bureau Chief<br>
Article & Video: <a href="http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2010/September/Israeli-Teen-Awaits-Judges-Decision-on-Accused-Attacker/" target="_new">link</a><br><br><div style="text-align: left;"><a target="_new" href="http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2010/September/Israeli-Teen-Awaits-Judges-Decision-on-Accused-Attacker/"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/25847/de6aa2527ee5392d2215193b60f3174c0ab09d85/original/Ami-Ortiz_Video_CBN_90910.jpg?1377783040" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="230" width="300" /></a></div>
<br><div style="text-align: justify;">The man accused of trying to kill Israeli teenager, Ami Ortiz, with a bomb may not have to stand trial.<br><br>
A three judge panel will decide if the suspect is mentally fit for the court case that's attracted world wide attention.<br><br>
As Jack Teitel entered the courtroom, he claimed Israel's legal system had no authority over him.<br><br>
"This house of prostitution has no legitimacy," he said.<br><br>
Teitel is accused of planting a bomb at the home of Ortiz and his family. The blast nearly killed the teenager.<br><br>
Teitel faces a number of charges in other cases, including the deaths of two Arabs and an attempted murder of a liberal professor.<br><br>
The Ortiz family must wait until December for the judge's decision.<br><br>
"It's going to be very, very important because they're really going to decide within one hearing whether he can be deemed responsible, mentally responsible for what he did in the past, and also, if he's fit to stand trial now," Ami's mother, Leah Ortiz, said.<br><br>
Since the 2008 bombing, Ami's parents have faced an emotional ordeal, but still pray for their son's accused attacker.<br><br>
"We feel at peace that God's in control," Ami's dad, David Ortiz, said. First of all, when we're at home with our family, we continue to pray for him. We continue to pray for him, with all these things that have taken place, that God will visit him."<br><br>
As for Ami, his mother said his progress has defied the doctor's prognosis and exceeded expectations.<br><br>
"They told us a long time ago he would never be able to run again like he did before. He will never be able to jump as high as he did before, but I mean he wins all the races," Leah said. "He runs faster than anybody. He dunks the ball and jumps really high. I just believe the Lord is going to restore him completely."<br><br>
"He's a wonder in my own eyes. How peaceful, how he's taking it. He has a vision to go forward, and he feels that this is in the Lord's hand," David said.<br><br>
In the meantime, the Ortiz's hope people will stand with them in prayer for the man who nearly killed their son.<br><br>
"In our hearts, we feel, we don't feel anger, we don't feel bitterness. More importantly that Ami does not," David said. We continue to pray for him, and we continue to pray that God with this case will continue to glorify Himself, and this is the main thing in all of this is that the name of Yeshua should be lifted among the people of Israel."</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305492010-09-05T07:00:00-06:002010-09-05T07:00:00-06:00YNet News l September 5, 2010Publication: YNet News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: September 5, 2010<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Teitel lashes out at judges, says accepts only Torah law<br>
Reporter: Aviad Glickman<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3949436,00.html">link</a><br><br>
During a hearing held in Jerusalem District Court on the case of Jack Teitel, dubbed the "Jewish terrorist," Teitel stood up from his chair in a sudden manner and said to the judges in English that he does not believe they have the legitimacy to judge him, saying he only accepts Torah law and nothing else.<br>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305482010-09-05T07:00:00-06:002017-01-13T06:44:08-07:00YNet News l September 5, 2010<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: YNet News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: September 5, 2010<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Teitel calls court 'a whorehouse'<br>
Reporter: Aviad Glickman<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3949488,00.html">link</a><br><br>
Yaakov (Jack) Teitel disrupted Jerusalem District Court on Sunday when he stood up suddenly and told the judges in English that he opposes "this whorehouse" which he said had no legitimacy to try him. Teitel is accused of various acts over a period of many years which have earned him the title of "Jewish terrorist."<br><br>
Teitel told the judges he accepts the Torah judgment alone, reiterated that the court was not authorized to try him, and said "God is king."<br><br>
Last November an indictment was submitted against him, including 14 paragraphs detailing 12 years of terror. According to the allegations against him, in 1997 he murdered taxi driver Samir Akram Balbisi in Jerusalem, and shepherd Issa Jabrin near Susya. He then returned to his country of birth, the United States, before coming back to Israel where he tried to harm police officers and Palestinians a number of times.<br>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;"><img src="//www.ynetnews.com/PicServer2/24012010/2747800/1_wa.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">Teitel in court on Sunday (Photo: Gil Yohanan)<br><br>
According to the indictment, he also placed an explosive device in the house of Prof. Ze'ev Sternhell who was lightly wounded, and sent a booby-trapped gift to a family of Messianic Jews in Ariel, seriously wounding their teenage son Ami Ortiz.<br><br>
The court debate centered round contradictory medical opinions regarding Teitel. One asserted he was not fit to stand trial, while another said he was fit to stand trial and responsible for his actions. During the debate, Teitel's attorneys Michael Ironi and Asher Ohayon requested the raw material on which the medical opinions were based so they could fully understand the second opinion.<br><br>
Representative of the State Prosecution Sagi Ofir agreed to the request, and the court ruled that the two sides would submit a joint injunction permitting the psychiatrists to submit the raw material.<br><br>
Ohayon also said Teitel would not agree to cooperate with the court. "The most he is willing to do, after much effort, is to be passive," Ohayon said, referring to "higher" orders which would not permit Teitel to do more than this.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305502010-09-03T07:00:00-06:002010-09-03T07:00:00-06:00Christian Today Australia / Compass Direct News l September 3, 2010<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: Christian Today Australia / Compass Direct News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: September 3, 2010<br>
Country: Australia<br>
Title: Alleged bomber of Christian boy in Israel to stand trial<br>
Reporter: Wayne King<br>
Article: <a href="http://au.christiantoday.com/article/alleged-bomber-of-christian-boy-in-israel-to-stand-trial/9030.htm" target="_new">link</a> / <a target="_new" href="http://www.compassdirect.org/english/country/israel/25214/">link</a><br><br>
ISTANBUL, September 3 – An Israeli man accused of planting a homemade bomb that almost killed the son of a Messianic Jewish pastor in Ariel, Israel has been declared competent to stand trial.<br><br>
Jack Teitel, 37, who in November was indicted on two charges of pre-meditated murder, three charges of attempted murder and numerous weapons charges, is expected to enter a plea on Sunday (Sept. 5).<br><br>
David and Leah Ortiz, parents of the teenage victim, said that the 10 months since the indictment have been difficult but their stance toward Teitel remains the same; they have forgiven him for the attack but want him to face justice before a judge and seek salvation from God.<br><br>
If nothing else, they said, they want him incarcerated to keep other Messianic Jews from being attacked either by Teitel or those following his lead.<br><br>
“He’s dangerous,” Leah Ortiz said. “He’s an extremely dangerous person. He’s totally unrepentant.”<br><br>
Sunday’s plea will open the way for a trial expected to start within weeks and last for more than six months. Officials at a hearing possibly the same day as the scheduled plea will decide whether Teitel will be moved from the mental hospital where he has been held for most of his detainment.<br><br>
It is possible Teitel will enter no plea on Sunday. He has publically stated that he doesn’t “recognize the jurisdiction” of Jerusalem District Court.<br><br>
Bombing<br>
On March 20, 2008, Ami Ortiz, then 15, opened a gift basket that someone had left anonymously at his family’s home in Ariel. The basket disappeared in a massive explosion that destroyed much of the Ortiz home and shattered Ami’s body.<br><br>
When he arrived at the hospital, Ami was clinging to life. He was bleeding profusely, had burns covering much of his body and was full of needles, screws and glass fragments the bomb-maker had built into the device.<br><br>
The doctors had little hope for him and listed his condition as “anush,” meaning his soul was about to leave his body.<br><br>
After countless hours of surgery and even more spent in prayer, Ami went from “near dead,” to burned and blind and eventually to playing basketball on a national youth team. Both his parents said his recovery was nothing sort of a miracle from God.<br><br>
‘Most Radical Evangelist’<br>
When Teitel was arrested in October 2009, police found him hanging up posters celebrating the shooting of two teenagers at a gay and lesbian community center in Tel Aviv.<br><br>
Teitel’s background is still somewhat of a mystery. An emigrant from the United States, he became an Israeli citizen in 2000, got married not long afterwards and is the father of four children. Usually portrayed in Israeli media as part ultra-orthodox ideologue and part fringe survivalist, it is clear that Teitel was motivated by a fascination with end-times prophecy and an extremely violent interpretation of Judaism and Jewish nationalism.<br><br>
He is a self-described follower of such anti-missionary groups as Yad L’Achim. According to authorities, Teitel sought to kill those he deemed enemies of traditional Judaism: Palestinians, homosexuals, liberal Jewish intellectuals and, in the Ortiz case, Messianic Jews.<br><br>
David Ortiz is well known in Israel, both for his activities in the Jewish community and for his efforts to expose Palestinians to the gospel.<br><br>
“He said the reason why he wanted to kill me was that I was the most radical in evangelism, so I had to be first,” said Ortiz, who has seen transcripts of Teitel’s confessions.<br><br>
Along with the Ortiz case, police said Teitel is responsible for the June 1997 shooting death of Samir Bablisi, a Palestinian taxi driver who was found in his cab with a single bullet wound to his head. Two months later, police said, Teitel allegedly shot Isa Jabarin, a Palestinian shepherd who was giving him driving directions to Jerusalem.<br><br>
Police also said that Teitel attempted to burn down a monastery and unsuccessfully planted several bombs. He also is accused of the September 2008 bombing of Zeev Sternhell of Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The bombing left the emeritus history professor slightly wounded.<br><br>
During one court hearing, Teitel flashed a victory sign and reportedly said, “It was a pleasure and honor to serve my God. God is proud of what I have done. I have no regrets.”<br><br>
Long Road to Trial<br>
David Ortiz said that as bad as the bombing itself was, waiting for the trial has been yet another ordeal.<br><br>
As officials investigated the bombing, police harassed Messianic Jewish friends of theirs, saying, “If you are Jewish, why did you become a Christian?” Ortiz said.<br><br>
The Ortiz family had to sue police and pay 5,000 shekels (US$1,320) to obtain a copy of a security camera video belonging to the family that police had seized as evidence. The video shows Teitel laying the basket at the Ortiz home.<br><br>
“We had to hire a lawyer because we understood clearly that our rights as victims had to be protected,” said David Ortiz.<br><br>
Particularly galling to the pastor has been the hands-off response of government officials to the attack.<br><br>
“We are the only family in Israel that has been a victim of an attack that hasn’t been visited by a government official,” he said, adding that officials have made no public condemnation of the attack. “If the leaders do not condemn an act, it emboldens others who want to do the same thing.”<br><br>
According to the International Religious Freedom Report 2009 issued by the U.S. Department of State, there are 10,000 Messianic Jews in Israel. The report documents several cases of violence against Messianic Jews, including cases where baptismal services have been disrupted, Messianic Jews have been beaten and Christian literature has been torched.<br><br>
God Shows Up<br>
Leah Ortiz said that what Teitel intended for evil, God meant for good in order to reach people.<br><br>
“The Lord has taken the worst tragedy that could possibly happen and has used it for the greatest good that He possibly could,” she said.<br><br>
The incident, and how the Ortiz family has dealt with it, has become a lighting rod of sorts in Israel, forcing people to think more seriously about the claims of the Messianic Jews.<br><br>
In a place filled with the type of hatred that causes people to strap bombs to their bodies to kill others, the attack has given people a reason to think and, for some, to choose forgiveness and peace.<br><br>
Ortiz said he has gotten calls from Palestinians who had said if he could forgive a man who bombed his child, then they can forgive what has happened to them. Orthodox Jews have called him and asked forgiveness for their hatred toward Messianic Jews. Muslims have called Ortiz offering blood for transfusions for Ami.<br><br>
Ortiz said he was devastated after the attack, but that he has been blessed to see God working “supernaturally” through the incident. Ami is an example of God’s grace and healing power, Ortiz said, explaining, “Ami has been a wonder within my own eyes. How could anyone who went through so much be so peaceful?”<br><br>
Ami’s high school friends, most of them not Messianic Jews, have sought him out and asked him about the ordeal. Ortiz said he thinks God will use him in a big way.<br><br>
His wife explained, “I have that sense this is about something bigger. This is something bigger than what has happened to us and to our family.”<br><br>
On the web: <a href="http://www.compassdirect.org" target="_new">www.compassdirect.org</a><br><br>
Compass Direct News is a news service dedicated to providing exclusive news, penetrating reports, moving interviews and insightful analyses of situations and events facing Christians persecuted for their faith.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305772010-08-30T07:00:00-06:002010-08-30T07:00:00-06:00YNet News l August 30, 2010<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: YNet News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: August 30, 2011<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Teitel deemed fit to stand trial<br>
Reporter: Aviad Glickman<br>
Section: Israel News<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3946310,00.html">link</a><br><br><b>Teitel deemed fit to stand trial</b><br><br>
New psychiatric evaluation contradicts initial evaluation which determined that 'Jewish terrorist' is mentally ill. 'Teitel was responsible for his actions when he committed them,' district psychiatrist rules<br><br>
Aviad Glickman<br>
Published: 08.30.10, 17:29 / Israel News<br><br>
A psychiatric evaluation submitted to the Jerusalem District Court determined that "Jewish terrorist" Yaakov (Jack) Teitel, who was indicted for murdering Arabs and attempting to hurt Prof. Ze'ev Sterhell is fit to stand trial and was responsible for his actions, Ynet learned Monday.<br><br>
This evaluation contradicts an <a target="_new" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3884876,00.html">initial evaluation</a> submitted to the court three months ago, which stated that Teitel's mental state may not allow for trial to proceed. He was later sent to a different hospital for another evaluation. <br><br>
Teitel has been hospitalized at the Magen hospital for the past three months, and a hearing on his matter is expected to take place next week.<br><br>
His lawyer, Attorney Asher Ohayon, said in response to the new evaluation: "We will study the evaluation and respond to it as part of the court discussions.<br><br>
After the first evaluation was submitted, Teitel said upon entering the courtroom, "I don’t know if I'm insane. I don’t recognize this court's authority."<br><br>
Teitel was indicted in November 2009 on 14 different counts. The 37-year-old resident of the settlement of Shvut Rachel was indicted for the murder of Palestinian taxi driver, Samir Balbisi, in June 1997, and the murder of a Palestinian shepherd a few months later. He was also charged with laying an explosive device next to a Palestinian home near the West Bank settlement of Eli.<br><br>
The indictment also charged that Teitel attempted to poison Palestinian residents of an isolated village near Eli. He was also indicted for attempting to murder Ami Ortiz, the son of a Messianic family living in Ariel, when he sent an explosive device disguised as a Purim gift to their home. In addition, he was charged with placing a bomb next to Prof. Zeev Sternhell's home.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305572010-07-14T07:00:00-06:002010-07-14T07:00:00-06:00Tablet l July 14, 2010Publication: Tablet<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: July 14, 2010<br>
Country: USA<br>
Title: ‘V’ Is for Victory "The odyssey of Jack Tytell: An intimate look at the accused Jewish killer"<br>
Reporter: Will Yakowicz<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.tabletmag.com/news-and-politics/32679/tytell/print/">link</a><br><br><div style="text-align: justify;">EXCERPT<br><br>
‘V’ Is for Victory<br>
"The odyssey of Jack Tytell: An intimate look at the accused Jewish killer"<br><br>
VI. The Enemy Within<br><br>
Ami Ortiz<br><br>
Seven surveillance cameras are trained 24 hours a day on the Ortiz family’s third-floor apartment in the West Bank city of Ariel. The Ortizes are convinced that other Jews hate their kind of Jews, who were born Jewish and continue to observe many Jewish customs but believe that Jesus is the Messiah sent by God.<br><br>
Every morning while he drinks his coffee, David Ortiz carefully watches the surveillance footage from the night before. When he is out of town for business he scans the footage on the Internet. While the family sits and watches television, a quarter of the screen is dedicated to the camera monitors. Any suspicious person, especially a Jew with a beard, is watched with fear. Their 5-inch steel front door is a shield. Once out of the door they carefully check for translucent tripwires that might trigger a bomb, for thumb-thick explosives that would blow off a leg with ease, or suspicious packages that would rip holes through their Jesus-loving bodies. David Ortiz gets on his hands and knees and meticulously checks under his car before he takes a ride.<br><br>
His family is not paranoid, he says. They are just doing what they have to do to survive. Their routine is obsessive, but they believe the precautions are prudent rules that protect their lives and ensure another bomb does not shake their household.<br><br>
On March 20, 2008, on the eve of Purim, a man hand-delivered a gift basket. When Ami Ortiz, David’s 15-year-old son, opened the red cellophane wrapping on the kitchen table, the basket exploded. Every window in the house shattered from the shock wave. Shrapnel ripped through the walls and ceiling and mutilated Ami’s 6-foot-6-inch tower of a body. Nails, glass, and safety pins severed three toes, cut through his neck (just missing his jugular), broke two ribs, collapsed one of his lungs, sliced chunks off his quadriceps, and for a few moments made him deaf and blind.<br><br>
In a confession, Tytell said he <a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3828269,00.html" target="_new">delivered</a> the booby-trapped Purim basket because he knew the Ortiz family believed in Jesus. The bomb’s force was the most powerful and deadly homemade explosive he had ever rigged. He told police interrogators that the explosive was meant to kill David, a Messianic rabbi who leads a congregation of 50 Messianic Jews and who strives to convert as many Orthodox Jews as possible to accept Yeshua, Jesus, as the one and only savior of the chosen people.<br><br>
David Ortiz is a soft speaker. His voice is so gentle and light that it almost qualifies as a whisper. He was born a gentile in Puerto Rico and raised in Brooklyn, where Orthodox Jewish employers taught him the Talmud. In 1985, he moved to Israel with his Jewish wife, Leah, and their family. He says he was scared while living in Brooklyn, “You didn’t know who was going to kill you for your wallet,” he says as the security camera’s monitor flashes to the parking lot three floors under us. “At least here I know exactly who wants to kill me and why.” He says his neighbors, mostly Orthodox Jews, dislike him for believing in Jesus. They tried to have him kicked out of town, but the mayor refused to evict the group on grounds of its beliefs. Posters with David Ortiz’s name, picture, and address were pasted on every bus station from Ariel to Tel Aviv.<br><br>
Tytell told investigators that he studied the family for months. He knew their schedule, he knew who would be home when, and when the house was vacant. He knew about the cameras, even the pinky-sized one in the hallway next to the door, covered with plaster, nearly invisible.<br><br>
Unfortunately, Ami Ortiz did not watch the surveillance tape before he opened the Purim basket. In the security video of that fateful day, a man appears at around 11:16 in the morning walking up the stairs wearing gloves, a mask, and covering his mouth and face with a white towel. He clutches the red cellophane-wrapped basket, bends over the wooden gate at the top of the stairs, lightly places the gift on the ground, and leaves.<br><br>
Strangely, the only thing Tytell was afraid of, according to David Ortiz, was his family being sued. In court Ortiz tried to hand Tytell a civil suit of 2 million shekels. “He wouldn’t look me in the eyes,” Ortiz tells me in an elevated whisper. “He was so ashamed. He never believed we’d judge him, people who he thought to be wastes of life, were now judging him.” We sit drinking coffee in the living room, just a couple feet away from the blast site in the kitchen. “I was able to catch his eyes for a second, I saw an assassin, I saw a man who doesn’t understand Israel. He’s just a foot soldier who knows only the targets to hit.”<br><br>
Contrary to reports from the police and Shin Bet, David Ortiz believes Tytell is a professional assassin, working for a group. He even believes that Tytell’s trademark, the “V” sign for victory, is a signal to his followers, which says, “Continue without me.”<br><br>
Still, Ortiz has forgiven his son’s assailant. “Let’s say this: I will have to forgive him,” he says. “If Jesus died for me, Jesus died for him, too.” He opens his Bible and shows me a picture of Tytell holding his own son on his lap. Ortiz and his wife dedicate daily prayers to Tytell and his family, they pray for Jack to know Jesus as his personal savior and be redeemed. “Forgiveness doesn’t mean he doesn’t need to pay for his sins,” Ortiz says, “but I pray that God has mercy on him.”<br><br>
But forgiveness is not just for Jesus to do; it is also a form of therapy and healing. “If you do not forgive, you become a victim twice. Resentment and hate will ruin your immune system and your will to live. You become bitter, angry, suspicious, you stop being human.” Ortiz loses his train of thought as the camera catches a figure wearing a black hat and a black knee-length coat who stops and looks over his shoulder. He decides the man is a neighbor and continues. “After the attack, we knew we had to defend ourselves very quickly, and our weapon of choice was forgiveness. We told Ami he had to forgive.”<br><br>
They decided not to move because God told them they were not to leave Ariel. The attack has been used to exult the name of Jesus, Ortiz says. Since the explosion they have received 4,000 letters, from China, Sri Lanka, Cuba, Canada, Korea, and the United States. But the most touching letters, David says, were from Jews all around the West Bank and Israel condemning the attack against Ami. Some Jews have even accepted Jesus as their savior, Ortiz says with a gentle smile.<br><br>
“Staying here in Ariel is not courageous,” he says. “We have to die anyhow. If you’re afraid, you die every day.” He shows me the table where the bomb exploded. It looks like a surfboard, from which a shark took a great big bite. David told me that when Ami was brought to the hospital, the doctors gave him little chance of survival. The Hebrew word David used to describe the state his son was in is anush, which means the soul is leaving the body. Ami was put in a medically induced coma. When he was brought out of it, eight days later, the Ortizes saw a miracle. According to David, the doctors proclaimed to Ami, “You are born again.” (A representative from the Schneider Children’s Medical Center of Israel, where Ami was hospitalized, was unable to contact Ami’s doctor by press time.)<br><br>
Ami Ortiz is now the tallest student in his school and basketball league. He is all arms and legs and scars racing up from his severed toes all the way up to his neck. His basketball sits near him at all times, ready for a pick-up game. He is a pure teenager with a voracious appetite. He devours two plates of baked chicken and rice before he starts talking. His fingers fumble with the fork and knife, which are tiny in his lanky fingers. He carefully removes the chicken’s skin and places it in discarded clumps on the side of his plate.<br><br>
When I ask to see his wounds, he unbuttons the sides of his basketball pants to his upper thigh and shows me his shin, where doctors peeled off strips of skin to cover the exposed muscle and bone high on his thighs, chest, and neck. His skin is shiny and lumpy with scar tissue, and the skin covering his wounds resembles a small piece of cellophane plastic wrap stretched over a large steak. After 12 operations and four more to go, he is still the fastest kid in school, and he can still dunk a basketball.<br><br>
“Jack is a normal person,” the teenager says, as he buttons up his rip-away pants. “He doesn’t have horns on his head, or red eyes, but inside he is not human. He’s not crazy. He believes what he believes and does what he thinks he has to do. He’s a very smart guy, but he uses it for evil.”<br><br>
On a day-to-day basis, Ami Ortiz is still scared. The blast has left him shaken and traumatized, but he tries to live his life like a regular teenager. His faith has helped him look forward and find meaning in his injuries. The meaning of the attack, he believes, is to exalt God’s name and bring more people to know his son. Every week tour buses filled with Christians stop in Ariel, to see the family who almost died for Jesus. “There is probably more to God’s plan, and I will live to see it,” Ami concludes as he leaves to go play a round of hoops.<br><br>
VII. ‘V’ is for Victory<br><br>
The dingy plywood walls of cubicle number 20 in the Internet café on Jaffa Road in Jerusalem are the color of dirty pig’s skin. The owner of the Internet café told me Cubicle 20 is where Tytell sat almost every week. It was here that, according to <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/cool-calculated-jewish-terrorist-shows-no-remorse-in-court-1.4242" target="_new">reports</a>, he <a href="http://roshpinaproject.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/jack-teitels-email-to-david-ortiz/" target="_new">allegedly typed</a> emails to the Ortiz family, telling them his name was Daniel Ivgeny and he was interested in their Messianic services. Tytell would sit, resting his fingers on these black keys, worn down and caked with brown dirt, and stare into the white light of the screen and feel the distracted drone of a fast Internet connection and the buzz of caffeinated oxygen in a stuffy room. I am sitting in the technology pod, breathing in the sand-filled air, and I stare, hoping for a metaphysical connection that will help me understand this man and the nature of the evil that he brought with him. But nothing happens.<br><br>
Instead I think back to a conversation I recently had with a man named Reuven. We were standing together at the edge of a settlement called Elazar in the Gush Etzion region of the Judean Hills. He pointed to the neighboring settlement, <a href="http://www.betar-illit.muni.il/" target="_new">Betar Illit</a>, where Mark and Dianne Tytell, Jack’s parents, reportedly live, and we watched the lights turn on as the sky grew darker.<br><br>
“God told us to take the hills, and as you see that’s what we are doing,” Reuven said, pointing to the golden light perched upon the rolling mountains. “He who controls the mountains, controls the valleys.” He is clearly not crazy. Yet it is also clear that he regards his presence here as a kind of warfare.<br><br>
Two days before, I had asked Michael Tobin, a Jerusalem-based psychologist, if he thinks everyone he meets here is convinced God spoke to them 30 minutes ago. He had laughed and said that in his entire career he had treated only one man who spoke like Tytell —who spoke about God commanding him to eliminate sodomites— and that person ended up going to the United States, where he was eventually convicted of murder.<br><br>
I asked Tobin whether in a world of failing truths, did Judea and Samaria become a magnet for Jack Tytell’s dark matter? Did geography, and the absolutist values of the community that he saw himself as protecting, activate something inside the man that might have remained dormant in a less-pressurized place? Tobin, who is also a settler, was bothered by my question. Very educated individuals who are devoted to the land are attracted to the settlements, he said. He picked up his teacup and carried it to the sink as he thought out loud.<br><br>
“Is this a place that attracts dark matter?” the psychologist said. “I don’t think so, but you never know. If anyone came to me saying they wanted to do these terrible things he’s accused of, I’d go right to the police.” He paused. “Yaakov is not an example of Jerusalem Syndrome. This is not a cute harmless man who thinks he is Jesus and his donkey is tied up at Jaffa Gate. He is a disturbed and dangerous man who will go to his grave at peace with himself for what he has done in the name of God.”</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305762010-05-05T07:00:00-06:002017-01-13T06:44:10-07:00YNet News l May 5, 2010<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: YNet News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: May 5, 2010<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Teitel: I feel good, but don't know if I'm sane<br>
Reporter: Aviad Glickman<br>
Section: Israel News<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3885221,00.html">link</a><br><br>
Teitel's associates: He's gone mad<br><br>
As first published in Ynet, professional opinion filed in court that alleged Jewish terrorist is not fit to stand trial. Hearing postponed so prosecution can review material. Teitel tells Ynet, 'I don't know if I'm sane. I don't recognize court's jurisdiction'<br><br>
Aviad Glickman<br>
Published: 05.05.10, 12:03 / Israel News<br><br>
After escaping the law for 12 years, the Jewish terrorist is also escaping a court date in the meantime. A professional psychiatric opinion was submitted Wednesday to Jerusalem District Court ruling that <a target="_new" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3798629,00.html">Jack Teitel</a> is no fit to stand trial. Details of the review were <a target="_new" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3884876,00.html">first published by Ynet</a>.<br><br>
The judges agreed with the State Prosecution's request to delay the hearing so that they could study the material.<br><br>
Teitel, accused of a string of terrorist attacks against Arab and Jewish civilians, told Ynet, "I don't know if I'm sane. I don't recognize the jurisdiction of this court. I feel good." <br>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/25847/1653f738fd496f309827bf08f8138a16ca0e8c50/original/Jack-Teitel_YnetNews_50510.jpg?1377783041" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="272" width="408" /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Teitel brought into court Wednesday (Photo: Ohad Zoigenberg)</b><br><br>
Judges Zvi Segal, Moshe Drori, and Moshe Hacohen postponed the hearing on the psychiatric evaluation performed in Sha'ar Menashe Hospital, which has been accredited by the district psychiatrist. They also ruled that the district psychiatrist must confirm the professional opinion submitted by the hospital.<br><br>
During the hearing, Teitel's legal counsel, Attorney Asher Ohayon from the Public Defender's Office, said that he intends to send a psychiatrist of their own to the hospital to write a professional opinion for the defense.<br><br>
In court, Judge Segal asked the State Prosecution whether there was any indication of any additional illness or previous hospitalization in Teitel's past. Representative of the State Prosecution, Sagi Ofir, said that the matter was raised during investigations, but that this apparently the first time Teitel has been to a psychiatrist.<br><b><br>
Judge: It is written Teitel is not supposed to be here</b><br><br>
Attorney Ohayon asked that the doctors who wrote the opinion be summoned to the next hearing. This request was denied, however. Judge Segal explained, "We are discussing one question today, and that is whether the defendant is fit to stand trial or not. We are not currently discussing whether he can be held responsible for his actions. As of now, according to what is written in the professional opinion, Teitel is not supposed to be here."<br><br>
Teitel's mother and relatives of his alleged victims – Samir Akram Balbisi and Amiel Ortiz – were present during the hearing. Amiel's father, David Ortiz, said, "Teitel is a very intelligent guy who carried out his crimes intelligently. It is a test for the judges and the State of Israel not to allow this murderer to get away."<br><br>
The families' representative, Attorney Yossi Greiber said that he was encouraged by the postponement granted in order to study the psychiatric evaluation. "We are stunned by this blatant attempt by one of the most sophisticated criminals to operate in Israel in the past decade who was of sound enough mind to plan the terrorist attacks."<br><br>
Greiber reiterated claims that Teitel conned the psychiatrist or that his mental state is a result of personal circumstances unrelated to the trial.<br><br><b>12 years of terror</b><br><br>
The opinion is based on a month-long psychiatric observation of Teitel performed in Shaar Menashe Hospital in Jerualem. The psychiatrist in charge of the case ruled that Teitel is in a psychotic state. Another opinion will be provided.<br><br>
In the meantime, Teitel will apparently continue to undergo in-patient hospital treatment. Periodically, a committee will deem whether his status has changed and whether he is fit to stand trial or not.<br><br>
It should be noted that the psychiatric evaluation refers only to Teitel's current psychiatric condition and whether he is currently fit for trial. It does not address his mental state when he allegedly committed the crimes being ascribed to him. It is likely that should his mental state change, his trial will continue.<br><br>
Last November, an <a target="_new" href="http://www.ynet.co.il/english/articles/0,7340,L-3804111,00.html">indictment</a> was filed against Teitel on fourteen counts of terrorism over the court of 12 years. In 1997, he allegedly murdered taxi driver, Samir Akram Balbisi in Jerusalem and shepherd Issa Jabrin near Sussia.<br><br>
After returning to the US, his country of origin, he returned to Israel and tried to harm police officers and Palestinians. He later planted a bomb at the home of Prof. Ze'ev Sternhell, who luckily was only lightly wounded in the incident. Teitel is also suspected of sending a booby-trapped Purim gift basket to a Messianic Jewish family living in Ariel that seriously wounded teenager Amiel Ortiz.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305512010-05-04T07:00:00-06:002010-05-04T07:00:00-06:00YNet News l May 4, 2010<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: YNet News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: May 4, 2010<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Victims: Teitel lying about mental state<br>
Reporter: Aviel Magnezi<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3885015,00.html">link</a><br><br>
Victims: Teitel lying about mental state<br><br>
Jewish terror suspect faked psychosis to evade justice, victims' relatives charge following psychiatric evaluation; Arab who shoots Jews is a terrorist, but Jew who shoots Arabs is insane, MK Tibi says<br><br>
Relatives of Yaakov Teitel's victims are unconvinced by a psychiatric evaluation deeming the Jewish terror suspect mentally unfit to stand trial because he is currently in a psychotic state.<br><br>
Ynet learned earlier that the medical opinion would be submitted to the court this Wednesday.<br><br>
-<br><br>
Evaluation<br>
Psychiatrist: Teitel unfit to stand trial / Aviad Glickman<br>
Jewish terror suspect's current mental state may not allow for trial to proceed, Jerusalem District psychiatrist says; another opinion to be submitted later. For time being, Teitel to receive treatment, remain in hospital<br><a target="_new" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3884876,00.html">Full Story</a><br><br>
-<br><br>
A statement published by the family of Samir Balbisi, the east Jerusalem taxi driver allegedly murdered by Teitel, and the family of Ami Ortiz, who was severely injured by a bomb Teitel allegedly sent, said they believed the defendant was lying about his mental condition.<br><br>
"The families have not ruled out the option that Teitel, who in the past managed to fool a police lie-detector after reading professional literature on the matter, has read professional literature on the field of mental health and is now attempting to deceive the medical system by faking psychosis, in order to evade justice via a plea of insanity," the statement said.<br><br>
Ynet learned Tuesday that a Jerusalem District psychiatrist ruled that Teitel is unfit to stand trial. The evaluation, to be presented during a hearing at the Jerusalem District Court Wednesday, notes that one cannot determine with any certainty the extent of Teitel's accountability for his actions.<br><br>
It also said he is incapable of constructively communicating with his lawyers or the judges, that he is paranoid and delusional, and that he could not effectively judge reality.<br><br>
"We will be at the hearing at the district court in order to study the evaluation closely," the families' statement said. "It seems to be nothing more than an attempt by the defense to delay the beginning of the trial to a later date for reasons which remain unclear – no statute of limitations applies to the murders Teitel is charged with."<br><br>
The statement added that the families would not rest until Teitel was brought to justice for the crimes he committed against them.<br><br>
Arab parties were also infuriated by the evaluation. "As expected, another Arab-killing terrorist has been found unfit to stand trial," MK Mohammed Barakeh (Hadash) said.<br><br>
"The man who amazed everyone with the sophistication of his crimes is suddenly unfit to stand trial. It proves once again that the Israeli court system is unfit to dole out justice. Arab blood is not considered blood in the Israeli court system as long as the murderer is like this terrorist."<br><br>
MK Ahmed Tibi (United Arab List-Ta'al) said he was "stunned" at the "intolerable ease with which Jewish murderers are legitimized by claiming they are unfit to stand trial".<br><br>
"In Israel, an Arab who shoots Jews is a terrorist, but a Jew who shoots Arabs is insane. This is an insane system that must shake up its psychiatrists and those who endorse them," he said.<br><br>
Tibi's party member, MK Taleb El-Sana, added: "This is a most ingenious crazy man, who planned and carried out several terror acts against Arabs and leftists. If in light of all this he is unfit, then no one is fit. Mental fitness has become a sanctuary for Jewish criminals seeking to evade justice for their crimes."<br><br>
Sharon Roffe-Ofir contributed to this report</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305452010-04-12T07:00:00-06:002017-01-13T06:44:08-07:00CBN News l April 12, 2010Publication: CBN News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: April 12, 2010<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Beersheva's Messianic Jews Await Trial Outcome<br>
Section: World<br>
Reporter: Chris Mitchell, CBN News Middle East Bureau Chief<br>
Article & Video: <a href="http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2010/April/Beer-Shevas-Messianic-Jews-Await-Trial-Outcome/?cpid=EU_CWN_2010_99" target="_new">link</a><br><br><div><a target="_new" href="http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2010/April/Beer-Shevas-Messianic-Jews-Await-Trial-Outcome/?cpid=EU_CWN_2010_99"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/25847/923507434821c89355eebdadcc17595908138301/original/Ami-Ortiz_Video_CBN_4.12.10.jpg?1377783040" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="230" width="300" /><br><br type="_moz"></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">JERUSALEM - A pivotal court case takes place this week in a trial involving the rights of Messianic Jews in Israel.<br><br>
In December 2005, hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jews in Beersheva stormed a congregation of Messianic Jews - Jews who believe Jesus is the Jewish Messiah.<br><br>
The attackers violently disrupted a baptismal service and police found it difficult to restore order.<br><br>
It wasn't the first time the congregation had been harassed. The attack eventually led the Messianic Jews to bring Beersheva's chief rabbi and the regional head of a group called Yad L'achim to court.<br><br>
"We just knew something this time needed to be done to protect the flock and also to honor the name of Yeshua here, of Jesus here, because they were totally making light of it all," Pastor Howard Bass said.<br><br>
Yad L'achim has attracted international attention for trying to prevent the preaching of the gospel during demonstrations like one in the Israeli town of Arad. Their efforts have also attracted the attention of the U.S. government.<br><br>
A 2009 U.S. State Department report on religious rights in Israel found "increased press reporting and complaints from religious freedom activists indicated a corresponding increase in Yad L'achim and associated activism and a growing wider backlash against the presence of evangelical or Messianic Jewish congregations."<br><br>
Ami Ortiz Attacker<br><br>
CBN News has also reported on Jack Teitel, the confessed bomber in the attempted murder of Ami Ortiz, the son of a Messianic pastor in Israel. Teitel admitted to police he was an active member of Yad L'achim for five years. The group denies his claim.<br><br>
Based on Teitel's confession and other suspicious activities, Israel's attorney general received an appeal by one human rights group to dismantle Yad L'achim and label it a "terrorist organization" since it acted "contrary to the law and the democratic nature of the state of Israel."<br><br>
The group concluded that Yad L'achim's actions severely damaged Israel's international reputation.<br><br>
The attorney general has yet to make a decision on the appeal while Yad L'achim says it will sue the group filing the appeal for slander.<br><br>
In the meantime, the two sides in the case will meet on April 15. The judge wants them to reach a settlement on their own. If not, he will render his verdict. The judge's ruling could have a major impact on freedom of religion in Israel.<br><br>
Not Against Israel<br><br>
Regardless of the outcome, Bass emphasizes this is not an anti-Israel case.<br><br>
"We're not against Israel. We're not against the Jewish people," he said.<br><br>
"We're simply trying to uphold the truth of the Gospel on the one hand. But also to uphold the legitimate rights we have under the existing laws of the State that we can worship as believers in Beersheva and Israel without fearing that they're going to come in and attack us."<a href="./fundraiser.cfm"><br></a>
</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305442010-02-23T06:00:00-07:002010-02-23T06:00:00-07:00YNet News l February 23, 2010<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: YNet News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: February 23, 2010<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Civil rights group wants AG to disband Yad L'achim organization <br>
Reporter: Aviad Glickman<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3853591,00.html">link</a><br><br>
ARTICLE<br><br>
The Jerusalem Institute of Justice has turned to Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein in a request to disband the Yad L'achim organization and declare it a terrorist organization. According to the institute, Jewish terrorist Jack Teitel was a member of Yad L'achim for five years. The institute's request lists a long line of allegedly illegal acts committed by the organization in recent years against ethnic and religious minority groups. (Aviad Glickman)</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305432010-02-10T06:00:00-07:002010-02-10T06:00:00-07:00February 10, 2010 l Ha'AretzPublication: Ha'Aretz<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: February 10, 2010<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Suspected Jewish terrorist admits to anti-missionary activities <br>
Reporter: Yuval Azoulay <br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1148767.html">link</a><br><br><div style="text-align: justify;">ARTICLE<br><br>
Suspected Jewish terrorist Yaakov (Jack) Teitel told his interrogators he was an active member of anti-missionary group Yad L'achim for five years, Haaretz has learned.<br><br>
The Bnei Brak-based ultra-Orthodox group has gained notoriety in recent years for its actions against Messianic Jews, whom it perceives as a "sect" seeking to convert Jews to Christianity. The organization also prides itself on "rescuing" Jewish women from relationships with Palestinians and Israeli Arabs.<br><br>
Teitel, a resident of the settlement Shvut Rachel, was charged last November with murdering two Palestinians and attempting to murder three people, including Hebrew University Professor Zeev Sternhell and Ariel teenager Ami Ortiz. Ortiz, from a family of Messianic Jews, was gravely wounded by a bomb packaged inside a Purim gift in March 2008.<br>
Advertisement<br>
Teitel admitted to placing the bomb, and called the Ortiz family "missionaries trying to capture weak Jews."<br><br>
Teitel admitted he was connected to the organization during an interrogation several weeks after his arrest. The interrogator, a Shin Bet officer with the Petah Tikva police, asked Teitel what he had been doing the night a bomb was placed outside Sternhell's home. Teitel said he had been pacing at home, unable to sleep, because of the cold weather.<br><br>
When the interrogator asked Teitel how his wife would react when he would come home after spending the night out, Teitel said she didn't mind because she knew he was working with Yad L'achim, "rescuing" Jewish women from their Arab partners.<br><br>
Teitel said he had worked with the organization for five years, and took part in five "rescue operations" a year. He said the operations were fast and effective, and always took place when the couples were not home. He refused to say who organized the operations.<br><br>
A month and a half before Teitel's arrest, Haaretz spoke to Yad L'achim chairman Rabbi Shalom Dov Lifshitz, as part of a comprehensive feature on his group in the weekend supplement last October. In the interview, Lifshitz denied his organization was connected to the harassment of the Ortiz family, and when presented with a poster showing the family with other Messianic activists, the rabbi denied his activists were distributing it.<br><br>
Two months after the explosion in Ariel, the injured teenager's father, David, approached several authorities in Israel and abroad. He said he felt the investigation had reached a stalemate, even though he had given police CCTV footage showing Teitel placing the bomb near his door.<br><br>
Among others, he approached the Irish Christian Friends of Israel. The mission's staff then sought explanations from Israel's ambassador to Dublin, Nadav Cohen.<br><br>
In response, the ambassador stated that the investigation was classified and that the officer in charge would tell him only that "Ariel has a community of about 20 Messianic Jews, and their leader [Ortiz] has been provoking Jews and Muslims, convincing them to convert ... the police is working to prevent this incident from recurring, but also told me that the Messianic Jews must alter their behavior to prevent extreme incidents in the future."<br><br>
Caleb Meyers, legal adviser for the Jerusalem Institute of Justice, who represents several Messianic Jewish activists, said, "If Teitel's confession is correct, it's not particularly surprising. We have been warning about the daily incitement and violence by ultra-Orthodox organizations like Yad L'achim for years. They incite against minorities for no reason other than their religion."<br><br>
"Yad L'achim is an entire barrel of bad apples," the lawyer said. "The authorities must treat them uncompromisingly, because it's just a matter of time before they grow more Teitel terrorists."<br><br>
Yesterday, Lifshitz denied Teitel was connected to his organization.<br><br>
"I have no idea who this is and we have nothing to do with him. I've read about him in the papers, and it sounds like he's making it all up with his feverish imagination. Maybe his claim about working with us was just an excuse to his wife for his absence at night."<br><br>
Lifshitz also denied Teitel took part in five "rescue" operations a year.<br><br>
"So he says, so what. I wish we had someone who could take part in five operations a year. Look, we have a lot of volunteers, hundreds of them, maybe he joined us under a false name," he said. "You can't know anything for sure these days. I guess I'll have to check the passports of every one of my men from now on."<br><br>
The Yad L'achim chairman said he had not been approached by the police or the Shin Bet since Teitel's arrest.<br><br>
"He's a wacko, he's nuts. I don't know the guy," he said.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305412010-01-10T06:00:00-07:002017-01-13T06:44:08-07:00January 10, 2010 l TV7 FinlandTV Station: TV7<br>
Type: TV l Online<br>
Date: January 10, 2010<br>
Country: Finland<br>
Program: Israel Puhuu<br>
Title: Ortizien Perheelle Pommi Purim-lahjana<br><br>
Video: <a target="_new" href="http://vod.tv7.fi/tv7portal/vod/player.html?file=israel_puhuu-066-w.MP4&dir=israel_puhuu">link</a><br><br><div><a href="http://vod.tv7.fi/tv7portal/vod/player.html?file=israel_puhuu-066-w.MP4&dir=israel_puhuu" target="_new"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/25847/ceea9291245a2b95b930ab6db3d9ad0970770681/original/Ami-Ortiz_Video_TV7_1.jpg?1377783040" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="230" width="300" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1194419829128&pagename=JPost%2FPage%2FVideoPlayer&videoId=1258027277943" target="_new"><br></a></div>
View more videos <a href="./videos.cfm">here</a><a href="./fundraiser.cfm"><br></a>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305382010-01-01T06:00:00-07:002017-01-13T06:44:08-07:00January 1, 2010 l YNet News<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: YNet News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: January 1, 2010<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Teitel's profile: Settler, charismatic, ideologist <br>
Reporter: YNet Reporters<br>
Article: <a href="http://www.ynet.co.il/english/articles/0,7340,L-3828269,00.html" target="_new">link</a><br><br>
ARTICLE<br><br><b>Teitel's profile: Settler, charismatic, ideologist</b><br><br>
Review of thousands of revealed documents shows police formed fairly accurate description of Jewish terrorist almost a year before knowing who he was. Other documents reveal additional suspicions raised during investigation which were not verified, including links to Satmar Hasidim in US<br><br>
Ynet reporters<br><br>
Published: 01.01.10, 10:02 / Israel News<br><br>
An adult man, a settler, a religious man, a charismatic man, an ideologist, who has a weapons storeroom in his home – this is how the police described Yaakov (Jack) Teitel, months before they knew who he was. But even then, the police already had an established estimation that only one person was behind the acts he had committed – an estimation which later proved to be true.<br><br>
A further review of the thousands of documents from the investigation file in the Jewish terrorist affair, some of which were revealed Thursday, only strengthens the feeling that the law enforcement authorities had an endless number of clues and details which could have helped assemble the full picture and arrest Teitel at an earlier stage.<br><br>
In Court<br><a href="http://www.ynet.co.il/english/articles/0,7340,L-3827915,00.html" target="_new"><br>
Lawyer: Teitel was unaware police minutes published / Aviad Glickman</a><br><br>
Because Jewish terrorist swaps legal counsel, Jerusalem District Court decides not to extend his remand until end of legal proceedings, but only for 19 days. Teitel, upon hearing this, smiles, nods in agreement that he misses his wife<br><br>
One of the interesting records is a document written in December 2008, 10 months before Teitel's arrest, in which a police investigator reached the conclusion that one element was behind a series of incidents which took place between 2006 and 2008. <br><br>
These 10 incidents were eventually included in the indictment filed against Teitel: A pipe bomb detonated outside Prof. Ze'ev Sternhell's home in September 2008; an explosive charge planted at a police station in the West Bank settlement of Eli in April 2006; an explosive device detonated in a monastery in the village of Beit Jamal near Beit Shemesh in April 2007; An explosive charge detonated in Jerusalem's Ramot neighborhood in May 2007; a explosive Purim gift sent to the Ortiz family home in Ariel in March 2008; and five additional cases in which pamphlets against the gay pride parade, hatred letters and "manuals" were distributed in Jerusalem and in the settlements of Eli and Adei Ad.<br><br>
The document's author, Chief Inspector Maya Engelhard, a research and profile officer at the Investigative Psychology Department of the police's national headquarters, based her conclusion on the common characteristics of texts distributed on pamphlets and booklets and attached to explosive devices, and especially in "the manual for activists of the Judea Kingdom", which included a manifesto of hatred against the State of Israel, calling for the establishment of a "Judea state" and including a series of instructions for dealing with arrests and interrogations and for the preparation of a variety of Molotov cocktails and explosive devices.<br><br><img src="//www.ynetnews.com/PicServer2/17112009/2307320/2_wa.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" /><b><br>
'Burning hatred.' Yaakov Teitel in court (Photo: Guy Turgeman)</b><br><br>
'Sodomites' not only gays<br><br>
Engelhard concluded, and her conclusion later proved to be completely right, that there was "one main doctrine" behind all the incidents, which focuses on hatred of "sodomites". She explained that the word "sodomite" did not refer to homosexuals only, but to "anyone who does not share an ideology which is similar to that of the writers. In other words, a group comprised of "all the haters of the Torah," including the State of Israel, its leaders and the government institutions. He feels a "burning hatred" to all these elements, she ruled.<br><br>
In one point, however, Chief Inspector Engelhard makes a fundamental mistake: She estimates that the actions were not committed by one person but by a group of people, comprised of "a leading hand" which constitutes a "key authority" under which a number of small cells which carried out the attacks operate, and which "are not necessarily aware of each other's existence."<br><br>
No foundation for this assertion has been found so far, and the established estimate is that Teitel acted all alone.<br><br>
She then paints a profile of the head of the organization and of the "young people" who executed his orders by planting the explosives. In her characterization of the "key authority", she managed to create a profile which fairly suits Jack Teitel: A person over the age of 35 (Teitel was 36 at the time); a resident of the territories; strongly religious; charismatic and very articulate; a person who blindly believes in his way; ideologically detached from the State of Israel, and therefore is likely not to pay taxes, to live in an isolated place and ignore the existence of the security forces; he is expected to carry a weapon and may have "a hiding place or storeroom for weapons."<br><br>
Engelhard also estimated that in the case of an arrest and interrogation, this man "will refuse to cooperate, but there is a chance that in a certain situation he will be able to 'restrain himself' and will provide the investigators with his doctrine" – which is exactly what happened.<br><br>
Nonetheless, she also "misses" some points. For example, she claims that "we cannot rule out the possibility that he served in the IDF in the past and may have even been a career officer." She estimates that "he may have a relatively neat look, essentially military, and there is a possibility that he may wear a sign which will identify him and those accompanying him. She also estimates that "he is expected to draw young people (mainly bachelors) who share his outlook."<br><br>
'Sternheil' in threat letter to Beilin<br><br>
The documents also reveal that during the investigation, even before Teitel was caught, the police looked into a variety of suspicions which were eventually not included in the indictment.<br><br>
For example, one of the documents revealed that the police had examined a threat letter sent by email to Former Meretz Chairman Yossi Beilin. The letter, which was sent on October 2008, read, "I regret to inform you of the death of Uri Avnery and Yariv Oppenheimer… who were two of several enemies of Israeli living among us, and that they will be joined in the future by Sternheil (apparently referring to Prof. Sternhell), Beilin and others."<br><br>
The letter's writer also praised the actions of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's murderer, Yigal Amir.<br><br>
The police apparently linked the threat letter to Teitel because Prof. Sternhell, one of his victims, was mentioned in it. Oppenheimer, the Peace Now secretary-general, was also mentioned in Teitel's interrogations as one of the people he considered targeting. However the names of Beilin, Oppenheimer and Avnery where eventually not included in the indictment, which did not mention any threats.<br><br>
Another complaint looked into as part of the "Teitel case" relates to an incident from February 2009, in which an article about the attack on Prof. Ze'ev Sternhell (which took place five months earlier) was pasted near the home of a Women in Black activist in Jerusalem's Ein Kerem neighborhood. On the article someone had written that anyone who hurts the activist will receive NIS 1 million (about $260,000).<br><br>
It should be noted that the same activist had complained in the past about being harassed by "a guy of American descent", and the court had even issued a restraining order against him. <br><br><img src="//www.ynetnews.com/PicServer2/25102009/2246554/1_wa.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" /><br><b>Prof. Ze'ev Sternhell (Photo: Dudi Vaaknin)<br></b><br>
Another lead looked into in the investigation, which was apparently not verified, is a link between the affair and members of the Satmar Hasidism in the United States. In a letter from January 2009, one of the investigators asked for a meeting with the representative of the New York Police Department in Israel, in order to receive information on intelligence in some of the Hasidism's yeshivot in the East Coast.<br><br>
The request for a meeting was made due to suspicions that there was a link between five pipe bomb attacks (against Prof. Sternhell and in relation to the gay pride parade) and "an unknown Jewish underground." All of these attacks are now attributed to Teitel.<br><br>
Another document points to additional clues the police had, which could have helped locate Teitel: A summary of the questioning of Prof. Sternhell's wife, Ziva, who said that several hours before the pipe bomb exploded outside their home, she had spotted a man standing next a nearby bottle recycling device, holding a note and apparently searching for an address.<br><br>
She described him as a 35-year-old man, tall, with a medium-sized body and short dark hair, and added that he may have been wearing a skullcap and had a beard. However, she said she could not tell if he was secular or religious.<br><br>
Teitel the drawer<br><br>
The documents in the file include detailed accounts of Teitel's reenactments of the incidents in which explosive devices were planted in the different attacks, which accompany a video documentation.<br><br>
The file also includes a variety of drawings which were apparently illustrated by Teitel himself and seized by the police. They describe the different charges he built, alongside comments and explanations about their structure and operating systems and the places they were planted in. The writing is a mixture of English and Hebrew filled with spelling mistakes. Here are just a few of the drawings:<br><br><img src="//www.ynetnews.com/PicServer2/17112009/2342931/655-10_wa.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" /><br><br><b>Explosive charge with 'gunpowder' (spelled incorrectly in Hebrew) <br></b><br><img src="//www.ynetnews.com/PicServer2/17112009/2342927/655-8_Wa.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" /><br><br><b>Booby-trapped Purim gift sent to Ortiz family, as drawn by Teitel</b><br><br><img src="//www.ynetnews.com/PicServer2/17112009/2342923/655-4_wa.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" /><br><br><b>Charge activated using 200-meter fishing string after being planted under jeep Teitel thought was a police car in Ramot neighborhood. There were no injuries</b><br><br><img src="//www.ynetnews.com/PicServer2/17112009/2342917/655-3_wa.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" /><br><br><b>Explosives planted by Teitel in Eli, Beit Jamal </b><br><br>
Another document includes a psychiatric evaluation of Teitel from November 2, about a month after his arrest. The psychiatrist, Dr. Leon Karp, concluded that Teitel was "aware and sober" and that his concentration and public judgment abilities were intact. He also ruled out any comprehension and intelligence disorders.<br><br>
According to Dr. Karp, "Apart from phenomena of schizoid behavior (seclusion and sinking into an internal world), I did not find any psychiatric problems… I believe there is no need for hospitalization."<br><br>
'Each person pays for his actions'<br><br>
The documents exposed include a documentation of all of Teitel's interrogations since he was arrested on October 7. A pattern repeats itself in regards to each of the suspicions the investigators attribute to him: At first he keeps quiet, then he denies, and then he talks.<br><br>
Another stage was added when he was questioned about the massacre at the Tel Aviv gay youth club – after claiming responsibility, he goes back on his statement and denies again.<br><br>
In his first interrogation, Teitel said that "each person pays for his actions." He even responded positively when asked if he was aware of the fact that he was "going to sit in jail for many years."<br><br>
At this stage of the investigation, however, he was only questioned about the pamphlets seized while being distributed in the Har Nof neighborhood. He did not know that at this stage the investigators had already suspected that he was involved in the murder cases and attempts to hurt Prof. Ze'ev Sternhell and the Ortiz family members.<br><br>
In the second interrogation he was asked for the first time about the pipe bomb planted at the Sternhell home and replied that he had heard about the attacks against "the leftists from the university" in Jerusalem but denied any connection to it. He also denied having anything to do with the explosive Purim basket in Ariel. He only admitted that he had distributed leaflets against homosexual, "because they engage in acts which contradict the Torah." He explained that he had wanted to evoke the ultra-Orthodox public opinion and cause haredim to go out and protest.<br><br>
The third interrogation was held the same day, and he was presented with photos showing him placing the explosive charge in Ariel. He claimed in response that the pictures were blurred. In the next interrogations he was asked about the weapons in his possession and, for the first time, about his involvement in the gay club shooting attack in Tel Aviv. His response was negative.<br><br><img src="//www.ynetnews.com/PicServer2/02022009/2102152/3_wa.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" /><br><b>Murder in Tel Aviv gay youth club, August 2009 (Photo: Yaron Brener)</b><br><br>
After resting on Shabbat, he was questioned again, and told the investigators where he had hid a weapon – after being told that if he revealed the weapon's location he would be able to meet his wife. In her meeting with her, he said he was sorry for causing her misery.<br><br>
In the same interrogation, he said he would refuse to be questioned about the 1997 murder, on which he had been questioned in the past. He claimed that the attack took place a long time ago, and therefore "it’s not important."<br><br>
Only four days after being arrested, Teitel began speaking. He said he had planned to target the homosexual and lesbian center in Jerusalem (Open House). According to Teitel, he had planned to send an explosive flowerpot to the offices, but reconsidered for fear that the messenger would be hurt or that the investigation would lead to him.<br><br>
He also said that he had planned to target the manager of a club used by members of Jerusalem's gay community. He was asked again about the murder cases from 12 years ago and again replied, "What could I gain from it?"<br><br>
Poisoning inspired by James Bond<br><br>
After undergoing a polygraph test, which revealed that he was not speaking the truth about the gay youth club massacre, Teitel confessed to the two murder cases from the previous decade, to an attempt to poison residents of a Palestinian village and to setting three fires near the village of Beit Jamal.<br><br>
He later admitted that he had been involved in planting explosive charges and even said he had shot a sick dog in the head. Regarding the poisoning attack, he said he had read in a book from the James Bond series that a substance called "antifreeze" was toxic and decided to carry out a poisoning attack.<br><br>
Many of the interrogations engaged in Teitel's alleged involvement in the gay club shooting. Following repeated denials, things took a turn when he agreed to say what he would have done if he was the person behind the attack: He would take a grenade and a gun and hide an explosive device on a tree.<br><br>
In another interrogation, he said he would have arrived at the place on a motorcycle and explained what clothes he would have worn. A week after his arrest, he told his investigators that an attack "in a gay bar" in Tel Aviv would not suit him as much because it was carried out against children.<br><br>
On October 16 there was another change: Teitel said he was willing to take responsibility for the incident, but added that he did not commit it. He suggested that the police record his voice and let the attack's survivors listen to it, because he had heard that the murderer had shouted something.<br><br>
On October 19 he confessed to the murder, saying that he had fired many shots and that he remembers seeing teenagers "running, shouting, dropping chairs and escaping" as he fired in all directions, some hiding under a light brown-colored table and begging him to stop. He also said he remembered the terrified teens' eyes as he shot at them. He failed, however, to provide technical details. He only said that he had been wearing black clothes and a black mask and that he had used a 9-millimeter gun.<br><br>
He also added that he deserved to die for this act, that he did deserve to wear a skullcap, that he did not deserve to drink the coke he was given and that he was "a monster rather than a human being."<br><br>
But in the next interrogation he went back on his words, saying that he had lied and did not carry out the attack. He apologized for the lie and explained that he had given the false version because he thought that would bring the affair to an end.<br><br>
And indeed, apart from the gay club incident, Teitel expressed his complete confidence in the rightness of his actions. In one of his interrogations he said he was in peace with his deeds and that any self-examination would eventually take place between him and God, who will judge him one day.<br><br>
Teitel estimated that he would be rewarded for his actions rather than punished, although he understood that he may spend many years in prison. He also said that had he not been arrested, he would have continued his activity.<br><br>
Another attack Teitel confessed to and then went back on was the plating of three mines in the village of Abu Gosh. At first he confessed to the attack, which the investigators were not even aware of. Police officers were dispatched to the area to search for the explosives, which were not detonated, but could not find them.<br><br>
Teitel went back on his confession, but then claimed responsibility for the missing charges once again. "You have nothing to worry about," he said, adding that the explosives were planted when he had just begun his activity and were not of high quality. The charges were never found, but the offense of planting them was included in the indictment.<br><br>
In some of the interrogations, his behavior as a family man was discussed, and Teitel claimed that he was a good husband and a reasonable father. He estimated, however, that his wife would be angry at his actions and decide to divorce him.<br><br>
A comical moment was recorded in one of the questioning sessions, when Teitel turned to his investigators and suggested that if the police would drop all charges against him, he would be willing to study Arabic or Persian and serve as an Israeli agent in Iran.<br><br><b>Amir Shilo, Yaron Druckman, Ahiya Raved, Aviad Glickman, Vered Luvitch and Ronen Medzini contributed to this report</b>
</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305372009-12-22T10:45:00-07:002009-12-22T10:45:00-07:00December 22, 2009 l Religion News<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: Religion News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: December 22, 2009<br>
Country: USA<br>
Title: Israel's Messianic Jews wary of stepped-up persecution<br>
Reporter: Michael Chabin<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://pewforum.org/news/display.php?NewsID=19337">link</a><br><br>
ARTICLE<br><br>
Israel's Messianic Jews wary of stepped-up persecution<br><br>
by Michele Chabin<br><br>
Religion News Service<br><br>
ARIEL, West Bank (RNS) After their teenage son was nearly killed last year by a bomb disguised as a holiday gift basket, few people were as eager for Ya'acov Teitel to see justice as Leah and David Ortiz.<br><br>
Teitel, an Orthodox Jewish loner who confessed to placing the package in the family's stairwell said he targeted the Ortiz family because they are Messianic Jews -- Jews who believe in Jesus as the Messiah.<br><br>
"We want justice, not revenge," said Leah Ortiz, who has lived in this religiously mixed city of 30,000 since the late 1980s. "This happened because Teitel had hate in his heart. He needs to be in prison."<br><br>
The attack, which left 15-year-old Ami with shrapnel wounds and burns over much of his body, has highlighted the vulnerability facing Israel's small and increasingly beleaguered Messianic Jewish community.<br><br>
Community members say the decades-old harassment has intensified in recent years, as ultra-Orthodox Jewish groups dedicated to stopping missionary activity have grown stronger and more confident.<br><br>
Anti-missionary activists hold protests outside Messianic places of worship and post photos and the addresses of believers on lampposts.<br>
They tell the Ministry of the Interior that Messianic Jews are converts to Christianity, something that would make them ineligible to immigrate to Israel.<br><br>
Although Israeli law permits missionary activity -- provided the evangelizer does not offer any material incentive to a potential convert -- the persecution and forced conversion of countless Jews for generations has made Jews extremely wary of proselytizing.<br><br>
Messianic Jews, who publish and distribute the New Testament in Hebrew, say they are eager to share the "good news" with anyone willing to listen, but insist that they do so within the parameters of the law.<br><br>
Aaron Rubin, who heads the anti-missionary department at Yad L'Achim, Israel's leading anti-Messianic organization, insists that Messianic Jews lure unsuspecting Jews by speaking Hebrew and quoting Jewish texts.<br><br>
"They lie. They try to convert people but say they're not Christians. They're fundamentalist Christians who call themselves Jews,"<br>
Rubin asserts.<br><br>
Barry Segal, a Messianic leader who co-founded the Joseph's Storehouse Humanitarian Aid Center with his wife outside Jerusalem, attributes the recent rash of high-profile incidents to his movement's growing popularity.<br><br>
"The number of believers in Israel was roughly 300 in 1981, and today it's over 12,000," he said. "I'm talking about those of us who are Jewish born, who were married in Jewish weddings."<br><br>
Thousands more Israelis, primarily Russian and Ethiopian immigrants whose Jewish status is questionable, combine Jewish and Christian ritual in their daily lives.<br><br>
"In times past, the harassment mostly consisted of mail tampering and phone calls with vicious intent," Segal said. But in recent years, "there has been a rising tide from harassment into violent acts."<br><br>
Segal is quick to point out that Sudanese and Pakistani Christians face more deadly threats than Messianic believers in Israel. Still, "any violence, actual or threatened, is unacceptable."<br><br>
Pnina Comforti, the bakery owner, says anyone who wants to understand the fear she faces should watch a YouTube video that re-enacts a phone call in which a man tells her, "I am coming to take your soul. How do you feel knowing you are about to die?"<br><br>
The man in the video proceeds to recite her address. "You will know my name when I write it on the wall with your blood."<br><br>
Comforti said business has been down 50 percent since her bakery's kosher certification was torn off the wall. "People come and say, `We heard you do something to the cakes"' that renders them unkosher. "What the rabbis say, people do."<br><br>
Still, she is undaunted. "What those who threaten us don't understand is that they strengthen our determination and our faith."<br><br>
Leah and David Ortiz say much the same thing.<br><br>
Seated in the apartment that was badly damaged by the blast that nearly killed the youngest of their six children, Leah said half the town came to visit their son in the hospital. "They said prayers, they cooked us meals. We've lived here so long, people know us to be good people."<br><br>
David, who serves as the spiritual leader of this town's 50-family Messianic Jewish congregation, produces grim photos of Ami taken about a month after he opened the package at the kitchen table.<br><br>
"It blew off three of his toes, the muscle from his thighs, and caused second- and third-degree burns on his chest and thighs," he said. "Bolts and screws tore through his eye and it's a true miracle he wasn't blinded."<br><br>
Ami, now 16, has undergone 12 operations and has at least four more to go. After spending five months in the hospital, he returned to school and now plays on two basketball teams.<br><br>
As grateful as they for Ami's recovery and community support, the Ortiz family is still upset by how Israeli authorities handled their case.<br><br>
"There was a condescending attitude, almost like they were saying, `What did you think would happen if you live as Messianic Jews?"' Leah said. "Government officials told us privately, `You don't have many fans."'<br><br>
A police spokesman said the Ortiz attack "was investigated thoroughly for months and Teitel was ultimately apprehended. We act on every complaint that is filed."<br><br>
Mostly, though, the family is looking forward, not back.<br><br>
"I'm doing great, but I have to see what my physical abilities will be," said Ami, who at 6 feet 6 inches tall, would normally be drafted into the military at age 18. "I hope to play basketball professionally."<br><br>
Ami says the bombing strengthened his spirituality.<br><br>
"I've seen a lot. I've been through a lot. I've seen what God can do and it makes me feel safe."<br><br>
His parents say they have forgiven the bomber, who was recently indicted in the March 2008 attack.<br><br>
"Otherwise he would have control over us, and we would be victims twice," Leah said, stroking the family's 15-year-old dog, who became deaf due to the bombing. "Forgiveness frees you and frees God to work his miracles."</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305392009-12-13T06:00:00-07:002009-12-13T06:00:00-07:00CBN News l December 13, 2009Publication: CBN News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: December 13, 2009<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Victim's Parents Attend Trial for Jewish Terrorist<br>
Section: World<br>
Reporter: Chris Mitchell, CBN News Middle East Bureau Chief<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2009/December/Trial-Begins-for-Alleged-Jewish-Terrorist/">link</a><br>
Video: <a target="_new" href="http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2009/December/Trial-Begins-for-Alleged-Jewish-Terrorist/">link</a><br><br><embed width="533" height="300" allowfullscreen="true" src="http://downloads.cbn.com/cbnnewsplayer/cbnplayer.swf?aid=12544"></embed><br><br><div style="text-align: justify;">The Israeli Messianic Jewish family whose son was nearly killed by a bomb have come face to face with their alleged attacker.<br><br>
Teenager Ami Ortiz was wounded by a bomb that Yaakov "Jack" Teitel allegedly planted at the family's home in 2008. Severely wounded in the explosion, Ortiz has made a miraculous recovery since then.<br><br>
David and Leah Ortiz, the teen's parents, were there in the courtroom when the criminal trial of Teitel opened in Jerusalem on Wednesday.<br><br>
"I made eye contact with him," the elder Ortiz said. "I wanted to let him know that I'm here and we're alive and he did not succeed and that God had mercy on us. I thought that was important. If he doesn't call upon the name of the Lord and tell the Lord to have mercy on him there's no hope. But we pray that he will seek repentance and that this Saul may become a Paul."<br><br>
"It was important for me to see him, and show him he has failed and we exist," Mrs. Ortiz said. "Today we are going home, and he will stay in jail. He caused us terrible and horrific damage, but did not succeed in blotting us out."<br><br>
Teitel has been charged with two murders, five attempted murders, incitement, weapons violations and one count of arson.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305402009-12-09T06:00:00-07:002009-12-09T06:00:00-07:00December 9, 2009Publication: Israel Today<br>
Type: Magazine<br>
Date: December 9, 2009<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Assailant’s Arrest Prompts Sympathy for Messianic Jews<br>
Section: Messianic Jews, Page 6<br>
Reporter: Ryan Jones<br>
Article: <a href="/files/21163/IsraelToday_12.9.09_AmiOrtizStory.pdf" target="_new">Download PDF </a>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br>
ARTICLE<br><br>
Assailant’s Arrest Prompts Sympathy for Messianic Jews<br><br>
Time appears ripe for Israeli believers to be more open about their faith<br><br>
It may go against the grain to say so, but persecution of Messianic Jews in Israel is on the wane. It could seem insensitive and naïve to reach such a conclusion so soon after the man responsible for critically wounding Messianic teenager Ami Ortiz was detained, but the aftermath of the arrest reveals that times have changed.<br><br>
Shortly after he was taken into custody, American-born Yaakov “Jack” Teitel, a member of the religious Jewish settlement of Shvut Rachel, confessed to placing a bomb disguised as a Purim gift basket on the doorstep of the Ortiz family apartment in the nearby settler town of Ariel in February 2008. When then 15-year-old Ami picked up the package and triggered the bomb, he was left with injuries doctors believed would become life-long disabilities. He has since made a miraculous recovery. <br><br>
But the Messianic Ortiz family was not Teitel’s only target over the past decade. He also confessed to the September 2008 bomb attack against ultra left-wing, anti-settler Hebrew University professor Ze’ev Sternhell, as well as targeting homosexuals and killing two Arabs. The Israeli media painted Teitel as a violent enemy of anyone with different views, not just Messianic Jews, and happily lumped Israeli believers together with all of the Jewish victims of this extremist.<br><br>
It was widely suggested that the lifting of the gag order on Teitel’s arrest was meant to coincide with the anniversary of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination by another Orthodox Jewish militant, in an attempt to further sully the image of that sector of society. Nevertheless, the fact that Teitel’s attack on a Messianic family played so prominently in the story signified that the majority of “secular” Israel is tolerant toward their fellow Jews who believe in Yeshua (Jesus); they would even likely take their side in a dispute with adherents of more Orthodox strains of Judaism.<br><br>
And it’s not only secular Israelis who are coming to the aid of Messianic Jews; many religious Jews who may view believers in Yeshua as apostates are nevertheless standing up for their right to live as Jews in the Jewish state without fear of persecution for their beliefs. <br><br>
Attorney Yossi Graiver, a religious Jew who jumped at the chance to represent the Ortiz family, told Israel Today that Jews must not attack other Jews just because of differing beliefs. <br><br>
“When I decided to take on this case, another lawyer warned me that dealing with this file will cause existing clients to leave our office due to the controversy surrounding the religious beliefs of the Ortiz family,” Graiver said. “I told him that he could be right but I was educated as a religious Jew on the verse in Micah [6:8]: ‘He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.’” <br><br>
There is no doubt that Messianic Jews in Israel face harassment and a certain degree of persecution, though other groups face the same. There can also be no doubt that this harassment and persecution comes from a very small minority in Israeli society that is not only at odds with, but actively opposed by, the majority. <br><br>
What the extremist fringe of religious Jews has accomplished is to bring Messianic Jews into the spotlight, garner sympathy for them, and open a lot of new ears, if not hearts, to the message of hope and redemption through Yeshua. <br><br>
Foreign Christians in Israel, meanwhile, have also been affected by the harassment of the Orthodox fringe. Many who spent decades acting as the link between the Christian world and the Holy Land, defending Israel and bringing the Gospel, even if just through quiet love and support, are now being forced to leave the country. <br><br>
The simultaneous removal of so many foreign Christians and the broadening acceptance of Messianic Jews signify a shift in Israeli society that is the outward manifestation of a fierce spiritual battle. Many Messianic Jews are responding by stepping to the forefront and playing a more prominent role in representing the Body of Messiah in Israel.<br><br>
By Ryan Jones</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305352009-12-09T06:00:00-07:002009-12-09T06:00:00-07:00Ynet News l December 9, 2009Publication: Ynet News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: December 9, 2009<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Teitel refuses to rise during trial opening<br>
Reporter: Aviad Glickman<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3817551,00.html">link</a><br><div style="text-align: justify;">
<br>
ARTICLE<br><br>
Teitel refuses to rise during trial opening<br><br>
Published: 12.09.09, 14:15 / Israel News<br><br>
Yaacov Teitel, who is accused of murdering two Palestinians and a series of additional charges, refused the judge's request to rise during the opening of his trial in the Jerusalem District Court.<br><br>
Teitel also refused to talk inside the courtroom, and only said "God is king." Teitel's temporarily-assigned attorney said he read the indictment to the defendant, and that his answer will be given at a later time. (Aviad Glickman)</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305342009-12-09T06:00:00-07:002017-01-13T06:44:08-07:00The Jerusalem Post l December 9, 2009Publication: The Jerusalem Post<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: December 9, 2009<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Tytell as trial begins: 'God is king'<br>
Reporter: Ben Hartman<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1260181035151&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull">link</a><br><br><div style="text-align: justify;">ARTICLE<br><br>
The criminal trial of alleged Jewish terrorist Ya'acov Tytell began Wednesday in Jerusalem District Court, where the families of Tytell's alleged victims came to face their loved ones' suspected attacker for the first time.<br><br><img src="//www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?blobcol=urlimage&blobheader=image%2Fjpeg&blobheadername1=Cache-Control&blobheadervalue1=max-age%3D420&blobkey=id&blobtable=JPImage&blobwhere=1260181032548&cachecontrol=5%3A0%3A0+*%2F*%2F*&ssbinary=true" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" /><br>
Ya'acov Teitel in court on Wednesday.<br>
Photo: Ben Hartman<br><br>
Presiding judges decided to delay the reading of the indictment against Tytell until January 10, partly because his lawyer, Adi Keitar, was doing reserve duty and couldn't attend the hearing.<br><br>
The state's indictment against Tytell spans 25 pages and includes two counts of premeditated murder and three counts of attempted murder involving 14 separate incidents between 1997 and 2008.<br><br>
There was a bit of drama at one point during the hearing, when Tytell refused Judge Tzvi Segel's demand that he stand to hear the charges against him.<br><br>
RELATED<br><br>
* <a target="_new" href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1257770047085&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull">Teitel charged with 2 murders, 3 attempted murders</a><br>
* <a target="_new" href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1256799066589&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull">Teitel family traumatized by terror case</a><br><br>
As the judge said "please rise," Tytell sat still and shook his head. The judge then said, "You don't want to stand? You're in a courthouse, stand up."<br><br>
Tytell continued to sit in his place and answered, "I can hear you from here." The judge continued with the proceedings without charging Tytell with contempt ofcourt.<br><br>
Tytell was led into court by three Prisons Service guards before a mob of reporters and cameramen. As in previous court appearances, he smiled and flashed the "V for victory" sign as he walked down the corridor.<br><br>
When he entered the courtroom, relatives of Samir Balbisi, the taxi driver he is suspected of murdering in 1997 shouted "trash" at him. Tytell remained silent and grinning as reporters mobbed him in the courthouse, only speaking up to say "God is king, God is king" in Hebrew.<br><br>
The back of the courtroom was packed with supporters of both sides, with relatives of Balbisi sitting on benches directly in front of and next to a bench full of members of the right-wing settler defense fund Honenu, which is backing Tytell's defense.<br><br>
Tytell's wife Rivka sat in the corner alongside the Honenu contingent, with the couple's infant son wrapped in a sling across her chest.<br><br>
The civil suit the victims' families plan to file seeks damages of NIS 2 million each for the family of Ami Ortiz, a 15-year-old critically wounded by a pipe bomb Tytell is suspected of leaving at his house in Ariel, and the Balbisis.<br><br>
Ami's father David Ortiz, who leads a messianic Jewish congregation in Ariel, told The Jerusalem Post that he and his wife came to the hearing because "it's important for him [Tytell] to see that we are still here, we're still alive and he did not succeed in destroying us."<br><br>
After the hearing adjourned, David Ortiz said he was feeling fine and that "it's not every day you see a trained assassin; it's not every day you see the man who tried to murder your family."<br><br>
He added that it is very encouraging to see that justice is being carried out.<br><br>
Ami's mother Leah said, "My heart has been pounding since 5:30 this morning. Being here takes me back to that morning."<br><br>
She added that, like David, she wanted to come "in order to show him [Tytell] that he was not able to destroy us."<br><br>
After the hearing, Balbisi's father Akram was sitting on a bench speaking with his lawyer and his murdered son's cousin Ibrahim. He told the Post of his family's struggles since his son was murdered 12 years ago, saying that he hasn't worked since his son's passing and his wife has suffered from a litany of health problems that he believes derived from his son's death.<br><br>
"I wanted to come and look into his eyes," Akram Balbisi said. "This man came from America to kill Arabs, but he didn't care who he killed. I hope he gets what he deserves."</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305322009-12-09T06:00:00-07:002017-01-13T06:44:07-07:00Ynet News l December 9, 2009Publication: Ynet News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: December 9, 2009<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: 'Jewish terrorist' trial to begin Wednesday<br>
Reporter: Aviad Glickman<br>
Article: <a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3817280,00.html" target="_new">link</a><br><br>
ARTICLE
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br>
'Jewish terrorist' trial to begin Wednesday<br><br>
Yaakov (Jack) Teitel, accused of murdering two Palestinians and committing series of criminal offenses, to stand before three-judge panel at Jerusalem District Court. Families of two of his victims plan to attend ever hearing, 'see him right before out eyes'<br><br>
Aviad Glickman<br>
Published: 12.09.09, 07:34 / Israel News<br><br>
Yaakov (Jack) Teitel, who has been dubbed "the Jewish terrorist," will stand before the Jerusalem District Court at 11:30 am Wednesday. The family members of some of his victims plan to face him and personally hand him a civil statement of claim for NIS 4 million (about $ 1 million).<br><br>
"My brother is gone, but Teitel must receive the punishment he deserves. Such a person should remain in prison all his life," says Hani Balbisi, whose brother Samir – a Palestinian taxi driver – was allegedly murdered by Teitel in 1997.<br><br>
No Connection<br><b>Teitel's relative: He is a disturbed fool</b> / Roi Mandel<br><br>
Brother-in-law of 'Jewish terrorist' indicted of murder, attempted murder and incitement tells Ynet his family 'completely cutting itself off from this man.' A person who does such terrible things should deal with them on his own, he adds (<a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3804247,00.html" target="_new">Full story</a>).<br><br>
The trial will be open to the public and will be held in front of Judges Zvi Segal, Moshe Drori and Moshe Hacohen. Justice Segal will read the indictment to Teitel and ask the defendant to confirm that he understands it.<br><br>
The defendant's representation has yet to be finalized, and it is unclear who will be representing him in the court. Therefore, there is a good chance he will ask the court to delay the rest of the hearings.<br><br>
Teitel was charged about a month ago with two cases of pre-meditated murder, three cases of attempted murder, carrying a weapon, manufacturing a weapon, and incitement to violence. Overall, the indictment included 14 charges against Teitel.<br><br>
Teitel, 37, a resident of the West Bank settlement of Shvut Rachel, was indicted for the murder of Palestinian taxi driver, Samir Balbisi, in June 1997, and the murder of a Palestinian shepherd just a few months later. He was also charged with laying an explosive device next to a Palestinian home near the West Bank settlement of Eli.<br><br>
The indictment also claimed that he attempted to poison Palestinian residents of an isolated village near Eli. He was also indicted for attempting to murder Ami Ortiz, the son of a Messianic family living in Ariel, when he sent an explosive device disguised as a Purim gift to their home. In addition, he is charged with rigging a bomb next to Prof. Zeev Sternhell's home.<br><br>
After the indictment was filed, Teitel told reporters in court, "It was a pleasure and honor to serve my God. God is proud of what I have done. I have no regrets."<br><br><b>'We have to be there'</b><br><br>
Relatives of two of Teitel's victims – the Balbisi and Ortiz families – are expected to attend Wednesday's hearing. "I will come there and ask him, 'Why did you do it? What did my brother do to you?'" Hani Balbisi told Ynet. "Such a person is a criminal, and God will pay him for what he's done."<br><br>
In the Ortiz family as well, emotions are high ahead of the trial. "It's not easy," says Ami's mother, Leah. "We are trying to prepare ourselves to see him right before our eyes. It will be the first time."<br><br>
Leah Ortiz believes attending the trial is a moral obligation. "We have to be there," she says, "to defend the victims' rights. We want to be there."<br><br>
Leah's husband David will also attend the hearing, but their son Ami, who was injured by an explosive device allegedly planted by Teitel, will not be joining them. "I'm giving him the option to make his own decision, and he's not ready," the mother says. "It still pains him mentally, and he still has physical problems as well."<br><br><img src="//www.ynetnews.com/PicServer2/25102009/2246435/2_wa.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" /><br><b>The Ortiz family members – Ami, Leah and David<br>
(Archive photo: Gil Yohanan)</b><br><br>
She has yet to devote any thought to the meeting with Teitel's family members, and especially his wife Rivka. "We want a connection, but I don’t know, it'll be kind of weird talking to her."<br><br>
Ortiz doesn’t accept the claims made by Teitel's relatives, that they were surprised by the revelation of his actions. "How can someone's wife not know what is happening with her husband, after living with him for seven years? I don’t believe it."<br><br>
The Ortiz and Balbisi families' lawyer, Attorney Yossi Graiver, told Ynet that his clients plan to take advantage of the emotionally charged meeting with Teitel in order to ask him why he decided to ruin their lives with his actions.<br><br>
According to Graiver, the families plan to "make an appearance" at every hearing, to exhaust their legal rights as victims of an offense in the criminal procedure, and to ensure that Teitel received the maximum penalty for the acts attributed to him.<br><br>
Tal Rabinovsky contributed to this report</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305302009-11-21T06:00:00-07:002009-11-21T06:00:00-07:00CBN News l November 21, 2009Publication: CBN News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: November 21, 2009<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Israeli Bombing Victim Forgives Attacker<br>
Section: Inside Israel<br>
Reporter: Chris Mitchell, CBN News Middle East Bureau Chief<br>
Article: <a href="http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2009/November/Israeli-Bombing-Victim-Forgives-Attacker/" target="_new">link</a><br>
Video: <a href="http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2009/November/Israeli-Bombing-Victim-Forgives-Attacker/" target="_new">link</a><br><br><embed width="533" height="300" src="http://downloads.cbn.com/cbnnewsplayer/cbnplayer.swf?aid=12121" allowfullscreen="true"></embed><br><div style="text-align: justify;">ARIEL, Israel - The surveillance video showed Jack Teitel leaving a bomb disguised as a Purim package in March of 2008. The bomb exploded in the face of then 15-year-old Ami Ortiz, nearly killing him.<br><br>
Miraculously, Ortiz has recovered from nearly all of his wounds and now plays basketball for his high school. CBN News talked to Ortiz about his reaction to the long-awaited arrest of the man who tried to kill him.<br><br>
"Relief, of course to hear that somebody that tried to murder you and your family is in jail," he said.<br><br>
Despite the Ortiz attack and other crimes, Teitel told reporters he was proud and his goal was to wipe out Messianic Jews in israel.<br><br>
"You are completely pure in what you did?," a reporter asked him.<br><br>
"Absolutely," Teitel responded. "It has been a pleasure and an honor to serve my God."<br><br>
Ortiz hopes Teitel has a change of heart.<br><br>
"I'm praying and hoping that in this time in jail he'll think about it and understand and realize he's done some pretty serious mistakes and he needs to repent," he explained.<br><br>
Ortiz says he has forgiven his attacker.<br><br>
"From the beginning there was no hate for nobody,'" he said. "I thought maybe there would be a chance I'd change once I saw a face. But thank God, no, nothing's changed."<br><br>
The one change is exposure. The bombing spread news about Jews believing in Jesus throughout Israel and the world. It also led to a groundswell of support and prayer for the Ortiz family.<br><br>
" amazing how much support we got, the prayers," Ortiz said. "I believe it worked tremendously in this whole story."<br><br>
The bombing nearly broke Ortiz's body, but he says it's also built his faith.<br><br>
"I've seen many miracles on my own body," he said. "I've felt it. You see how awesome God is. He controls everything, every little thing. I understand why people say God is so great. Because he can control everything. No problem."<br><br>
"I've heard that people said that it brought them closer to God and brought the congregation closer to each other and it's not over yet," Ortiz continued. "I believe God's still working and will work and do greater stuff. So we have to wait and see."</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305312009-11-17T06:00:00-07:002017-01-13T06:44:07-07:00Jerusalem Institute of Justice l November 17, 2009Publication: Jerusalem Institute of Justice<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: November 17, 2009<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title:Time for Soul Searching<br>
Section: Enewsletter<br>
Online: <a href="http://jerusaleminstituteofjustice.createsend3.com/T/ViewEmail/r/FA5EAE967578D684/0AB2903D7228279CC68C6A341B5D209E" target="_new">link</a><br><div style="text-align: justify;">
<br>
ARTICLE<br><b><br>
Time for Soul Searching<br><br>
A Man without a Conscience<br><br><img src="//i1.cmail1.com/ei/r/6B/194/F74/qdiikk/eichmann195921.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" /></b> Adolf Eichmann... the face of a man without a conscience<b><br><br></b>Gideon Hausner, the esteemed former Attorney General of Israel, who prosecuted Adolf Eichmann on behalf of the state in 1961, would sometimes describe to his family and close friends what it was like to look into the eyes of a man who was personally responsible for the systematic killing of so many Jews; the man responsible for immeasurable amounts of pain, torment and grief caused to so many of his fellow human beings. Hausner said it was like "looking into the face of a man without a conscience".<br><b><br><br></b><img src="//i2.cmail1.com/ei/r/6B/194/F74/qdiljh/Teitelincourt063037.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" /> "Jack" Teitel... "it has been a pleasure and honor to serve my G-d"<br><br>
Unfortunately that face, that familiar blank stare, has appeared and reappeared in the faces of so many tormentors and persecutors throughout the history of the Jewish people. From Haman to Titus, to Hitler , and more recently to Achmadinejad the President of Iran, the face of indifferent cruelty has never ceased to remind us of the importance of teaching the most basic principle of the Torah: that life is sacred because every human being has been created in the image of their Maker.<br><br><img src="//i3.cmail1.com/ei/r/6B/194/F74/qdihyj/jacksarsenal200717.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" /> Please explain how one amasses a significant arsenal of military-grade weapons in Israel without speaking any Hebrew<br><br>
It was quite alarming to see that same face appear once again on our television screens this week, and this time from an unexpected corner of the globe. Our own backyard. Yaacov "Jack" Teitel , an orthodox Jewish Israeli citizen was indicted this week for the indiscriminate slaying of two Palestinians, the bombing of Messianic Jewish youth Ami Ortiz , the bombing of Israel Prize Laureate Prof. Zeev Sternhell , and several other hate crimes. When asked by reporters to comment on his atrocious actions, Teitel repeatedly smiled at the cameras and said "it has been a pleasure and honor to serve my G-d. No regrets… no regrets".<br><br><b>Stating the Obvious</b><br><br>
The obvious reality is that Teitel, like Eichmann, did not become a systematic brutal murderer simply of his own volition. Rather, he is the operative arm of a radical racist element which has succeeded to infiltrate the public establishment and poison the minds of many well-meaning Israelis. Self-described "anti-missionary organizations" who are really nothing more than a revived ultra-orthodox Jewish version of the Klu Klux Klan have, in their zeal to "purify" the land of Israel, forgotten what it means to be a true Jew. By harassing and persecuting law abiding citizens solely because of their religious affiliation, they have diverged from legitimate Jewish activity. It is time for ultra-orthodox Jewish rabbis to start searching their souls.<br><br>
Are we saying that all ultra-orthodox Jews in Israel are evil? G-d forbid. There are many G-d fearing, peace loving, upstanding citizens in their ranks just like there were in Germany in 1945. If fact, there is no real contradiction between Orthodox Judaism and democracy. There is a major conflict however between radical orthodox institutions, some of which are endorsed by major rabbis in Israel, and democratic principles such as tolerance, freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and equality for minority streams.<br><br>
Teitel's lawyer, Adi Keidar, who is being financed by "Honenu" an organization endorsed by several very prominent ultra-orthodox rabbis in Israel (such as Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, Rabbi Simcha Hacohen Kook, and Rabbi Ovadia Yosef) laughably claims that his client is not mentally stable. This assertion, beyond being a typical last resort legal tactic, has dangerous implications. By hastily brushing aside Teitel's actions as the behavior of a deranged man, the whole sector of society to which he belongs and the leaders from whom he derived his theological and spiritual inspiration can conveniently wash their hands of his actions.<br><br><img src="//i4.cmail1.com/ei/r/6B/194/F74/qdutrj/HebronYeshiva223906.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" /> Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva is supported by the Israeli Government<br><br>
Not so fast, friends. Teitel is not insane; at least not according the State psychologists who tested him to confirm that he is stable enough to stand trial. Teitel, like Eichmann, is actually quite intelligent. He has been described by the GSS as a gifted "auto-deduct", who throughout the time period in which he carried out his heinous actions, was building a successful internet marketing business. Furthermore, let's ask the obvious question. If Teitel's actions are the freak behavior of a deranged individual, and not an expression of these rabbis' world view, why are they endorsing the organization which is granting Teitel free legal representation? At the very least, aren't they sending a double message to their crowd of believers?<br><br><img src="//i5.cmail1.com/ei/r/6B/194/F74/qdihuj/teitelcourt070551.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" /> Teitel was obviously not acting alone<br><br>
Or is there really even a double message? The fact that within two weeks of Teitel's arrest, Rabbi Yitzhak Shapiro, who heads the Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva in the Yitzhar settlement, published in his book "The King's Torah" that even Gentile babies and children can be killed if they pose a threat to the nation, sends a very clear message to the next generation of devout orthodox Jews in Israel. What is even more alarming is that the Od Yoseh Chai Yeshiva is supported by the Israeli government. In fact, according to Ha'aretz Newspaper, the yeshiva received over NIS 1,000,000 from the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Social Affairs in 2006-2007.<br><br><b>Difficult Questions</b><br><br>
Let's be honest. Teitel was obviously not acting alone. Having lived in Israel for little more than nine years, he does not speak any Hebrew. So, how one amasses a significant arsenal of military-grade weapons in Israel without speaking any Hebrew? And who prepared the "anti-missionary", anti-Arab and anti-homosexual posters which Teitel allegedly posted around neighborhoods in Israel, which were written in proper Hebrew? Who drafted them? Who printed them?<br><br>
We, at the Jerusalem Institute of Justice, hope and pray that the leaders of the ultra-orthodox movement in Israel, as well as Israel's law enforcement agencies, will have the courage to ask these difficult questions. The future of human rights and the rule of law in Israel hang in the balance.<br><br><b>Your Support</b><br><br>
Thank you for faithfully contributing to our efforts to make Israel an even stronger democracy. Through your support, we are able to continue the battle to advance freedom of religion, freedom of conscience and basic civil rights in our nation.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305582009-11-13T06:00:00-07:002009-11-13T06:00:00-07:00Ha'Aretz l November 13, 2009<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: Ha'Aretz<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: November 13, 2009<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Cool, calculated 'Jewish terrorist' shows no remorse in court <br>
Reporter: Chaim Levinson<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/cool-calculated-jewish-terrorist-shows-no-remorse-in-court-1.4242">link</a><br><br>
Cool, calculated 'Jewish terrorist' shows no remorse in court<br>
'It is a pleasure and an honor to serve my Lord; I do not regret it,' says West Bank settler Teitel.<br><br>
By Chaim Levinson<br><br>
Cool. Trained. Collects intelligence. Tries to cover his identity. Prepares escape routes. A professional who coolly squeezes the trigger.<br><br>
The indictment against Yaakov (Jack) Teitel on Thursday presented an image of a precise, trained terrorist who operated for 12 years, leaving nearly no trace. Until he was caught.<br><br>
"It is a pleasure and an honor to serve my Lord. I do not regret it," he shouted during a hearing to extend his remand, adding that he had no doubt that God approved of his actions.<br><br>
The 120 prosecution witnesses will describe two murders, four attempted murders, four cases of incitement, three weapons violations, four cases of illegally manufacturing weapons, one arson and threats motivated by hate.<br><br>
The more serious charges are those involving murder, of course. The charge sheet states everything was premeditated. A native-born American, he made up his mind when he was still living in the United States to go to Israel in order to kill Arabs. He took apart a pistol, put the metal parts in a video recorder and the plastic parts into a coat pocket. When he arrived in Israel, he purchased 200 rounds and practiced shooting, all the while collecting intelligence.<br><br>
In June 1997, he hired a car at the Eldan rental agency, and parked it near the Holyland Hotel. He then went to the city center, walked to Damascus Gate, and caught a Palestinian taxi. On the way he spoke about the weather, to ensure that the driver was an Arab. Near the hotel, he shot the driver, Samir Bablisi, once in the head. He drove away with the car he had rented earlier. Two youths returning from the Malcha Mall found Bablisi's body.<br><br>
After that success, Teitel found a job as a shepherd with the Bamberg family at the settlement of Sussia. The family refused to talk Thursday. As he walked with the herd, he noticed that pedestrians on the side of the road were an easy target. He left his job so that he would not be suspected, and moved to a Jerusalem hostel. In August 1997 he bought a gift for his former employers, and rented a white Fiat. When he saw a Palestinian shepherd, Isa Jabarin, he stopped and asked him for directions to Jerusalem. Jabarin leaned toward the car window, not understanding the question. Teitel pulled out his pistol and shot Jabarin twice, killing him. Frighteningly cool, Teitel continued on to the Bamberg household, 10 minutes away from the murder scene, and gave them their gifts.<br><br>
Several days after the second murder, Teitel was arrested in one of the area settlements, because he was driving a car similar to the one he was driving when he killed the shepherd. He was questioned and released, and he returned to the United States.<br><br>
When the intifada broke out, Teitel came back. Sometime in 2001, having read reports of Palestinian shooting attacks targeting Jews, Teitel decided to go after Palestinians.<br><br>
He learned how to prepare bombs online. First he placed three mines near Abu Ghosh. In 2003 he placed a bomb he made near the home of a family living near the road between Alei Lema'ala and Levona. A police sapper disabled the bomb. Another time he placed three bottles of poisoned juice near a Palestinian village, hoping someone would drink from them. As far as is known, no one did.<br><br>
In June 2005, Yishai Shlisel stabbed three marchers in Jerusalem's gay pride parade. The incident occurred six weeks before the Gaza Strip disengagement. The country was boiling. The events excited Teitel's imagination. At that point he changed direction, drawing inspiration from Shlisel. In August 2005, he started a fire near the Beit Jamal monastery.<br><br>
In July 2006, the gay pride parade planned for Jerusalem was arousing opposition. The police received many warnings about trouble brewing. Teitel disseminated a flyer in Jerusalem's Ramot Polin neighborhood, containing instructions on how to make a "Shlisel Special" and a "Spike Shlisel," improvised weapons to use against parade participants. He promised NIS 20,000 to anyone who attacked a homosexual, and signed the leaflet "The Red Hand for Salvation."<br><br>
In the end the parade was postponed to November, but Teitel continued sending threatening letters. But since the organizers continued their preparations undaunted, Teitel decided to take harsher measures. In early November, he placed a bomb near a police station at Alei Am, with a note on a piece of wood, "Sodomites Out." The bomb was defused by a sapper.<br><br>
In the end the parade was canceled, and the event was held in a stadium instead. Encouraged by his success, Teitel tried to foil the parade scheduled for June 2007 as well. Meanwhile he went back to the Beit Jamal monastery, and planted a bomb near a tractor, injuring the tractor driver. Nearby, police found fliers offering NIS 50,000 for the head of a "sodomite."<br><br>
In June, he placed another bomb under a car belonging to the Tamima family in Jerusalem's Ramot neighborhood, mistaking it for a police vehicle. He set the timer and fled, but the timer malfunctioned and the bomb went off a day later, when the vehicle was no longer in the parking space. No one was hurt, and the matter received little media attention.<br><br>
A month later he placed another bomb on the main road near Ramot, attached to a wire. He waited at the scene, holding the wire, in order to detonate the bomb if a police car passed by. He detonated the bomb, but caused no injuries. This was the only time he personally set off a bomb.<br><br>
His deadliest bomb was sent to the Ortiz family in Ariel. In the end of 2007, he found out online that the messianic Jewish family was proselytizing, and began collecting information. He contacted them through a false name from an Internet cafe, and said he wanted to pray with the community.<br><br>
"He used to sit here a lot," cafe owner Moshe Cohen told Haaretz. "Two months ago he was sitting here, and 10 minutes later five detectives came in and took his computer and the security camera tapes. After that I saw him in the news."<br><br>
Teitel placed a package near the door of the Ortiz household. The cleaning lady brought it inside, and the family's teenage son Ami opened the box, and was seriously injured by the bomb.<br><br>
After the Ortiz family attack, Teitel decided that the Kingdom of Judah needed to be set up in Judea and Samaria. He prepared a manuscript calling for attacks on Arabs, police, judges and missionaries, and included instructions on bomb making. He also set a bomb outside the home of Professor Zeev Sternhell, because he had received the Israel Prize. The elderly professor was lightly injured.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305362009-11-12T06:00:00-07:002017-01-13T06:44:08-07:00The Jerusalem Post l November 12, 2009Publication: The Jersusalem Post<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: November 12, 2009<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Teitel victims' families seek damages<br>
Reporter: Ben Hartman<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1257770044847&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull">link</a>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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ARTICLE<br><br>
An attorney representing the families of victims allegedly harmed by Ya'acov "Jake" Teitel announced Wednesday he will file a civil suit against him, demanding NIS 4 million in damages for his clients.<br><br><img src="//www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?blobcol=urlimage&blobheader=image%2Fjpeg&blobheadername1=Cache-Control&blobheadervalue1=max-age%3D420&blobkey=id&blobtable=JPImage&blobwhere=1256799091263&cachecontrol=5%3A0%3A0+*%2F*%2F*&ssbinary=true" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" /><br>
Ya'akov Tietel in court last week. l Photo: AP<br><br>
Attorney Yossi Graiver said he intends to file the lawsuit in a Jerusalem court on Thursday, at the same time an indictment against Teitel is served in Petah Tikva. Teitel's indictment is expected to include charges of first-degree murder as well as weapons and explosives offenses.<br><br>
In a statement, Graiver said that "since Teitel has admitted to the murder of Samir Balbisi and has also admitted to and reenacted the attempted murder of Amiel Ortiz with a booby-trapped Purim basket, he will have to bear the economic implications of his actions toward the victims whose lives have been paralyzed and destroyed."<br><br>
Speaking to The Jerusalem Post , Graiver said the families decided to file the suit "in order to do some sort of justice to the pain that they have suffered due to these attacks."<br><br>
Graiver said that Ortiz, who was 15 at the time of the attack and has already undergone 12 surgeries to treat his injuries, is still suffering from emotional trauma and will need further surgery and medical treatment for years to come.<br><br>
"It's not certain if he will ever be entirely the same as he was before the attack," Graiver added.<br><br>
Graiver said the families want Teitel to also face a civil trial because in such a trial the victims and their families will be able to face the defendant, who will be required to take the stand.<br><br>
Graiver said that the Balbisi family, whose son Samir was murdered in a 1997 shooting attack that Teitel is expected to be charged with, has suffered a loss that can never be replaced.<br><br>
Teitel has confessed to shooting Samir, who was the family's eldest son and would have been expected to help support his parents for years to come.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305332009-11-12T06:00:00-07:002017-01-13T06:44:07-07:00The Jerusalem Post l November 12, 2009Publication: The Jerusalem Post<br>
Type: Online l TV<br>
Date: November 12, 2009<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Teitel charged with 2 murders, 3 attempted murders<br>
Reporter: Dan Izenberg<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1257770047085&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull">link</a><br><br><div style="text-align: justify;">ARTICLE<br><br>
The state on Thursday filed a 25-page indictment against US-born, alleged Jewish terrorist Ya'acov Teitel, which included two counts of premeditated murder and three counts of attempted murder and involved 14 separate incidents between 1997 and 2008.<br><br><img src="//www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?blobcol=URLIMAGE&blobheader=image%2Fjpeg&blobheadername1=Cache-Control&blobheadervalue1=max-age%3D420&blobkey=ID&blobtable=JPVideo&blobwhere=1258027277943&cachecontrol=5%3A0%3A0+*%2F*%2F*&ssbinary=true" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" /><br><a target="_new" href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1194419829128&pagename=JPost%2FPage%2FVideoPlayer&videoId=1258027277943">VIDEO: Post's Yaakov Katz on alleged terrorist Teitel</a><br><br>
The indictment was filed and will be heard in Jerusalem District Court.<br><br>
Teitel's lawyer, Adi Keidar, told the court he needed one month to study the evidence before his client would be ready to answer the charges.<br><br>
The state's representative, Saguy Ophir, told the court the indictment was based on Teitel's confession and on forensic evidence based on a DNA sample that was found at the scene of one of the crimes. <br><br>
RELATED: <a target="_new" href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1257770044847&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull">Teitel victims' families seek damages<br><br></a>As he walked into the courtroom, Teitel more or less confessed that he was guilty of the acts for which he was charged.<br><br>
"It was my pleasure and honor to serve my God," he declared. "God is proud of what I have done. I have no regrets."<br><br><img src="//www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?blobcol=urlimage&blobheader=image%2Fjpeg&blobheadername1=Cache-Control&blobheadervalue1=max-age%3D420&blobkey=id&blobtable=JPImage&blobwhere=1256799062044&cachecontrol=5%3A0%3A0+*%2F*%2F*&ssbinary=true" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" /><br>
Yaakov Teitel's weapons' cache.<br>
Photo: Shin Bet Israel Security Agency<br><br>
The indictment goes into great detail as to how Teitel smuggled a handgun into Israel during a visit he made in 1997, when he decided to avenge terrorist attacks against Israelis. He took apart the gun and hid the metal pieces in a video player that he carried on board the plane, while sticking the plastic parts in his pocket. <br><br>
His first alleged killing took place on June 8, 1997. He obtained bullets for the gun by signing up for a target shooting exercise, renting a gun and purchasing 200 bullets of the same caliber that his own gun used, according to the indictment. He put 15 of the bullets aside. He then rented a car and parked it near the Holyland Hotel in Jerusalem. Teitel returned downtown by bus and headed towards east Jerusalem where he hailed an Arab taxicab. During the 15-minute ride to the Holyland Hotel, Teitel talked to the driver, Samir Balbisi, to make sure he was Arab. When they reached the hotel, Teitel kept talking until he saw that Balbisi was looking straight ahead. He took the gun out of his briefcase and fired one shot to the back of Balbisi's head, all according to the indictment.<br><br>
The second incident occurred on August 3, 1997, after Teitel had worked as a shepherd for a family in Sussiya in the South Hebron Hills.<br><br>
According to the indictment, Teitel noticed that many Palestinians walked along the roads in the area and decided to kill one of them. He rented a car, loaded his pistol and drove towards Sussiya. At 6:30 p.m., he spotted Issa Massaf walking alone. On the pretext of asking him directions, Teitel got Massaf to approach the car and shot him in the chest, again all according to the indictment.<br><br>
Other incidents for which Teitel was charged include:<br><br>
• Attempted murder: On March 1, 2003, Teitel allegedly booby-trapped a flashlight with explosives and left it at the entrance to the courtyard of a Palestinian house. It was set to go off as soon as anyone turned the light on.<br><br>
• Attempted murder: At around the same time, Teitel purportedly poured anti-freeze into bottles of juice and left them at a Palestinian village near the Eli settlement.<br><br>
• Attempted murder: On March 20, 2008, Teitel allegedly left a booby-trapped Purim gift at the home of the leader of the messianic Christian community in Ariel, David Ortiz. His son Ami opened the wrapping and the bomb exploded, severely wounding him. He suffered burns, broken ribs, and shrapnel wounds throughout his body, including his eyes. Ami Ortiz spent several months in hospital and is still undergoing treatment.<br><br>
One of the best-known of the alleged assaults by Teitel involved former Hebrew University professor and Israel Prize winner Ze'ev Sternhell. Teitel purportedly planted a bomb outside Sternhell's home in Jerusalem and prepared it to go off when anyone opened the front door. Sternhell opened the door, the bomb exploded and he suffered shrapnel wounds to his thighs.<br><br>
Teitel also allegedly targeted homosexuals and the police, who, in his opinion, deserved it for protecting the gay community during their parades in Jerusalem.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305592009-11-04T06:00:00-07:002017-01-13T06:44:09-07:00Life l November 4, 2009Publication: Life<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: November 4, 2009<br>
Country: USA<br>
Title: Jewish Terrorist Teitel Appears In Court<br>
Article: <a href="http://www.life.com/image/92705130" target="_new">link</a><br><br><div style="text-align: justify;">Jewish Terrorist Teitel Appears In Court<br><br>
PETAH TIKVA, ISRAEL - NOVEMBER 4: Yaakov (Jack) Teitel is appears in the magistrates court on November 4, 2009 in Petah Tikva, Israel. A native of Florida in the United States, Teitel is to be tried over a sporradic campaign of hate which began with the killing of an Arab shepherd and a taxi driver from East Jerusalem 12 years ago. He was held with a confession but realeased due to lack of evidence. Over the last 9 years after moving to the West Bank, Teitel perpetuated a campaign of hate attacks against both Palestinians and Israelis. According to his lawyer Teitel believes he is an 'emissary of the Lord' and that he has been given orders from God to carry out these attacks.<br>
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<div style="text-align: left;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/25847/a1f05ae443cd28244507e1157a925b82b07f6a2c/original/92705130.jpg?1377783041" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="594" width="395" /></div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305192009-11-04T06:00:00-07:002009-11-04T06:00:00-07:00Ynet News l November 4, 2009<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: Ynet News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: November 4, 2009<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Teitel also suspected of murdering officers in Jordan Valley<br>
Reporter: Efrat Weiss<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3799976,00.html">link</a><br><br>
ARTICLE<br><br>
Teitel also suspected of murdering officers in Jordan Valley<br><br>
Police suspect 'Jewish terrorist' Yaakov Teitel responsible for a March shooting attack during which two officers were killed, despite lack of clear evidence. Teitel's lawyer says his client claims he 'lied at least once' to his investigators<br><br>
Efrat Weiss<br>
Latest Update: 11.04.09, 12:34 / Israel News<br><br>
Police and Shin Bet officers continue their investigation on 'Jewish terrorist' Yaakov Teitel who allegedly committed a series of domestic terror acts over a period of 12 years. Teitel will be brought to a remand hearing Wednesday morning along with his neighbor Yosef Spinoza, who was arrested on Tuesday. Teitel's counsel said his client claimed he "lied at least once" to his investigators.<br><br>
In addition to existing suspicions, including the murder of two Palestinians, assaulting Prof. Ze'ev Sternhell and a teen from a messianic family in Ariel, placing explosives and inciting against the gay and lesbian community, Teitel also appears to be suspected of the murder of two traffic police officers.<br><br>
Minutes after the Jordan Valley shooting attack (Photo: AFP)<br><br>
On March 15, two police officers, David Rabinovitch and Yehezkel Remzarker, were killed as a result of a shooting attack carried out from a passing vehicle on route 90 near the community of Massua in the Jordan Valley.<br><br>
Police were at a loss for a lead on the case at the time and investigators now stress that there is no clear evidence tying Teitel to the incident.<br><br>
However, the 'Jewish terrorist' remains a suspect in the case as Haaretz daily reported Wednesday morning.<br><br>
Police are also unclear as to a possible motive on Teitel's part for the shooting. He allegedly committed hate crimes against Arabs, left-wing activists, gays as well as police elements, who in his view protected his targets. Some light on the matter may be shed during Wednesday's court hearing.<br><br>
Teitel's lawyer, Attorney Adi Keidar, said that his client told him that he lied to his investigators "at least once" during his investigation for his involvement in the charges made against him.<br><br>
"We will cross-check the police evidence and check his confessions. I don't know if he lied or told the truth," said Keidar at the end of deliberations for the extension of Teitel's remand. <br><br>
First Published: 11.04.09, 08:50</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305182009-11-04T06:00:00-07:002009-11-04T06:00:00-07:00Ynet News l November 4, 2009<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: Ynet News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: November 4, 2009<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Court extends remand of Teitel's neighbor<br>
Reporter: Vered Luvitch<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3800179,00.html">link</a><br><br>
Court extends remand of Teitel's neighbor<br><br>
The Central District Court extended by a week the remand of Yosef Spinoza, Yaakov Teitel's neighbor who was arrested on suspicion of being involved in Teitel's terrorist activity. Spinoza's attorney Zion Amir said that his client denies any connection to the crimes and is cooperative with investigators. (Vered Luvitch)</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305172009-11-04T06:00:00-07:002009-11-04T06:00:00-07:00Ynet News l November 4, 2009<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: Ynet News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: November 4, 2009<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: MK Tibi: Teitel's title – a terrorist<br>
Reporter: Sharon Roffe-Ofir<br>
Article: <a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3800228,00.html" target="_new">link</a><br><br>
ARTICLE<br><br>
MK Tibi: Teitel's title – a terrorist<br><br>
Knesset Member Ahmad Tibi (United Arab List-Ta'al) addressed the arrest of Yaakov Teitel who is suspected of murder and a series of domestic terror attacks, and said the police failed to exert the same amount of effort to catch Teitel for a decade, as it invested in indicting Hadash Chairman MK Mohammad Barakeh.<br><br>
"Everyone's a Teitel. Not murders but residing in criminal neighborhoods, in settlements," Tibi said and added, "Everyone is busy looking for a title to Teitel – a weed, mentally ill, but Teitel's title is plainly a terrorist." (Sharon Roffe-Ofir)</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305292009-11-03T06:00:00-07:002017-01-13T06:44:07-07:00The Jerusalem Post l November 3, 2009<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: Jerusalem Post<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: November 3, 2009<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Teitel court hearing closed to public<br>
Section: Middle East & Israel Breaking News l Israel<br>
Reporter: Ben Hartman<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1256799089168&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull">link</a><br><br>
ARTICLE<br><br>
A Petah Tikva court on Wednesday extended by seven days the remand of Ya'akov "Jake" Teitel, an American-Israeli settler suspected of waging a campaign of terror attacks against Palestinians as well as left-wing and homosexual Israelis.<br><br>
Teitel's lawyer in court: He said he did it for 'kiddush hashem'<br><br><a target="_new" href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1194419829128&pagename=JPost%2FPage%2FVideoPlayer&videoId=1256799091206">VIDEO LINK</a><br><br>
Judge Einat Ron decided to hold the hearing behind closed doors, barring the press and family members of the accused from viewing the proceedings. Ron's decision came after police investigators made the request, saying they feared Teitel would use the proceedings to pass secret messages to his alleged co-conspirators.<br><br>
After the judge announced her decision to bar the media, veteran Israeli journalist Moshe Nussbaum rose, and speaking on behalf of the media, called the decision to bar reporters and photographers "ridiculous," telling police, "This guy sent messages for 12 years before you noticed anything, and you're afraid now?"<br><br>
Teitel's lawyer Adi Keidar also criticized the decision, saying it harmed the public's right to information and the right of Teitel's relatives to appear in court and observe his proceedings.<br><br>
The media circus was thus pushed outside the confines of the courtroom, as was Teitel's wife Rivka, who sat smiling and cradling the couple's three-month-old baby as a horde of photographers and journalists swarmed her in a crescent of camera flashes and thrusting microphones.<br><br>
Teitel's parents, Mark (Mordechai) and Dianne (Devorah) Teitel were not present at the courthouse Wednesday.<br><br>
Teitel's wife in court on...<br><br>
Teitel's wife in court on Wednesday.<br><br><img src="//www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?blobcol=urlimage&blobheader=image%2Fjpeg&blobheadername1=Cache-Control&blobheadervalue1=max-age%3D420&blobkey=id&blobtable=JPImage&blobwhere=1256799091258&cachecontrol=5%3A0%3A0+*%2F*%2F*&ssbinary=true" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" /><br>
Photo: JPost TV<br><br>
Keidar told The Jerusalem Post Wednesday that his client had confessed to most of the charges, but said that Teitel had rescinded any confession to the shooting at the Tel Aviv gay center that left two dead, saying there was no connection between him and the crime.<br><br>
A court appointed psychiatrist ruled earlier this week that Teitel was fit to stand trial, but the defense has hired a psychiatrist to perform another examination of Teitel tomorrow. Keidar said that his client does not feel well and that it will be up to doctors to determine what his mental health is.<br><br>
"He said he felt he was doing God's work, but we will leave it up to doctors to decide if he is well or not."<br><br>
Keidar added that Teitel "could be normal, but if he's crazy, it's inside -he's not the type who you would see it on the outside." Keidar added that although he is not a doctor, Teitel did tell him some strange things that made it clear to him that something is not right with his client.<br><br>
After Teitel's hearing, Keidar accused police of railroading his client in an attempt to implicate him in a series of unsolved crimes.<br><br>
"It is obvious that police are seeking to exploit the momentum from Teitel's arrest, and use the case to help close other outstanding cases."<br><br>
Keidar was reportedly provided to Teitel by "Honenu" an organization that seeks to protect Israeli Jews accused of serious crimes. On the English version of the Honenu Web site, the organization says it "provides aid for the 'indirect victims' of continued Arab terrorism - those who have been forced to respond in real-time to genuine threats on their own or on others' lives."<br><br>
A towering representative of Honenu, Shmuel Meidad, and a colleague from Honenu stalked the hallway outside the courtroom, occasionally stopping to speak to Rivka Teitel. Later the three were seen holding a private meeting in the courthouse cafeteria.<br><br>
Meidad said he does not know Teitel personally, but he believes fully that Teitel is not mentally well and needs help.<br><br>
"This man is sick, but the state [of Israel] is sicker," Meidad said.<br><br>
Yosef Espinoza, an alleged co-conspirator of Teitel's, was also brought for a remand extension on Wednesday, a day after he was arrested by the Shin Bet for the second time. The court extended Espinoza's remand by seven days.<br><br>
Espinoza, 47, a father of two and Teitel's neighbor in Shvut Rachel, was represented in his hearing by celebrity Israeli lawyer Zion Amir, who once represented former president Moshe Katsav and deceased television star Dudu Topaz. Honenu reportedly helped procure Amir for Espinoza's defense, and after the hearing, the high-profile attorney was seen leaving the courthouse with Meidad.<br><br>
Espinoza is said to be a close friend of Teitel, who had trouble speaking Hebrew and reportedly became close to the fellow English-speaker.<br><br>
Amir told reporters outside the courtroom that he doesn't understand why police arrested his client, and added that the accusations presented in the closed-door hearing revolved around weapons charges.<br><br>
Amir did not say whether police are seeking charges against Espinoza or Teitel in relation to the deadly shooting of two traffic policemen in the Jordan Valley this year. Police are reportedly examining whether there is a link between Teitel and the murders of the two policemen. Amir also didn't say if his client is accused of assisting Teitel in perpetrating the attacks, or if he is suspected of having known about them beforehand.<br><br>
Amir added that his client has cooperated fully with investigators and denies all charges against him. He said he expects Espinoza to be released soon.<br><br>
Teitel's attorney Keidar said that the judge refused his request to represent Espinoza, saying it could present a conflict of interest, leading to speculation that police may try to convince Espinoza to testify against his friend and neighbor.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305252009-11-03T06:00:00-07:002009-11-03T06:00:00-07:00Haaretz l November 3, 2009<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: Haaretz<br>
Type: Newspaper & Online<br>
Date: November 3, 2009<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Police arrest new suspect in 'Jewish terrorist' case<br>
Reporter: Chaim Levinson, Haaretz Correspondent and News Agencies<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1125600.html">link</a><br><br>
ARTICLE<br><br>
Police arrest new suspect in 'Jewish terrorist' case<br>
By Chaim Levinson, Haaretz Correspondent and News Agencies<br><br>
Israeli security forces on Tuesday arrested a man suspected of serving as an accomplice to alleged Jewish terrorist Yaakov (Jack) Teitel.<br><br>
The newest suspect, Yosef Aspinoza, is a close friend of Teitel's and his neighbor in the West Bank settlement outpost Shvut Rachel. Police detained Aspinoza for questioning about two weeks ago, but released him after a few hours.<br><br>
Security forces investigating the allegations against Teitel believe he may have committed a number of murders in addition to those he admitted in his interrogation.<br><br>
Teitel, 36 allegedly planted several explosives and murdered two Palestinians. He was arrested three weeks ago and has confessed to a majority of the allegations against him.<br><br>
The Shin Bet security service is now trying to prove he was behind other unsolved murder cases in Jerusalem and the West Bank, although he has denied them.<br><br>
The Shin Bet and police are also trying to link Teitel to the terror attack on the Tel Aviv gay center Bar Noar, although his alibi for that night was checked and found solid. Security forces suspect he is covering for another person whom he sent to carry out the attack.<br><br>
Investigators believe Teitel, whose command of Hebrew is limited, had an accomplice who helped him write hate notices in Hebrew, without knowing of Teitel's widespread terrorist activity.<br><br>
Teitel, who is undergoing psychiatric examination, will be brought to court Wednesday for the extension of his remand.<br><br>
Teitel's attorney Adi Keidar said his client told him that half a year ago he had been called in by the Shin Bet for a warning. The Shin Bet sometimes warns people who are considered potentially dangerous that they are under surveillance, in hopes of deterring them.<br><br>
Teitel was arrested three weeks ago on suspicion of murder and involvement in several murder and bomb plots.<br><br>
Teitel's wife Rivka refuses to speak, even to relatives, until she sees him again and discusses the situation with him.<br><br>
"All she's interested in is taking care of their four little children. It is not simple. She doesn't think about other things. This story may be new to the public but we've been dealing with it for a month already," Teitel's brother-in-law and neighbor Moshe Avitan said Monday.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305112009-11-03T06:00:00-07:002017-02-01T12:30:19-07:00Maoz Israel l November 3, 2009<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: Maoz Israel<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: November 3, 2009<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Section: Inside Israel<br>
Title: Ami Ortiz Case Solved<br>
Video: <a target="_new" href="http://www.maozisrael.org/site/PageServer?pagename=maoz_Ortiz_case_video">link</a><br><br>
('Orthodox Jewish Terrorist' Confessed-Watch Him Plant The Bomb)<br><br>
One of the most horrendous crimes against Messianic Believers in Israel is finally closed. Watch exclusive footage of the crime, and its aftermath.<br><br><object width="480" height="295"><param name="movie" value="https://www.youtube.com/v/B49bJ3eXetc&hl=en&fs=1&">
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</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305082009-11-02T09:33:20-07:002017-01-13T06:44:06-07:00CBN l November 2, 2009<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: CBN<br>
Type: Television<br>
Date: November 2, 2009<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Section: Inside Israel<br>
Title: Suspect Arrest Announced in Ami Ortiz Case<br>
Reporter: Chris Mitchell, CBN News Middle East Bureau Chief<br>
Article and Video: <a href="http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2009/November/Suspect-Arrest-Announced-in-Ami-Ortiz-Case/" target="_new">link</a><br>
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<a href="http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2009/November/Suspect-Arrest-Announced-in-Ami-Ortiz-Case/" target="_new"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/25847/cc877b32f6eed7dc5f12017a5566b4bab562f431/original/Video_CNB_Suspect-Announced.jpg?1377783040" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="230" width="300" /></a><br><div style="text-align: justify;">
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Suspect Arrest Announced in Ami Ortiz Case<br>
By Chris Mitchell<br>
CBN News Middle East Bureau Chief<br>
Monday, November 02, 2009<br><br>
JERUSALEM, Israel - An alleged "Jewish terrorist" who immigrated to Israel from the United States has been arrested in connection with several bombings, murders and attempted murders in Israel, including the bombing in the community of Ariel that severely wounded a teenaged Messianic believer, Ami Ortiz.<br><br>
Ortiz is the Israeli Christian boy who was nearly killed in a bombing attack that made news around the world.<br><br>
The teenager miraculously survived the bombing in March 2008, when he opened a package disguised as a gift for the Jewish holiday of Purim. The bomb devastated the Ortiz family apartment, shattered car windows three stories below and left 15-year-old Ami Ortiz near death.<br><br>
Israeli police say the suspect, 37-year-old Yaakov "Jack" Teitel, plotted to bomb the Ortiz family. According to court documents, police found explosives and weapons and in his home.<br><br>
Teitel was arrested by an Israeli elite counter-terrorism unit on Oct. 7 while he was distributing flyers praising the bombing this summer of a Tel Aviv club that catered to gays and lesbians.<br><b><br>
Parents: Prayers Led to Miraculous Recovery</b><br><br>
Ami has mostly recovered, but still has some physical and emotional scars. His parents say after a year of intensive medical treatment - and prayer from believers around the world - Ami made a miraculous recovery.<br><br>
Still, the announcement deeply affected them.<br><br>
"It was very chilling," Ami's mother, Leah, recalled. "In other words, I felt like my heart go cold. Because even though we know that there are people actually flesh and blood people that did it, just the fact that we found out what settlement they were from. That there were neighbors."<br><br>
"I felt pain for these people. I prayed for them this morning," Ami's father David said. "I mean he's going to try and kill people, assassinate people, and ruin your whole life."<br><br>
Criminal attorney Yossi Graiver represents the Ortiz family.<br><br>
"We heard about their story when they contacted us and we were amazed by the fact that it could be done by a fellow Jew and we decided to take care of the case on an ideological basis," Gravier said.<br><br>
"For me, it was the most natural thing to defend the Ortiz family as part of a group minority in Israel," he said. "Against other people that think differently than them; it's a legitimate reason to assassinate and kill them."<br><br>
Despite the year and a half ordeal and their son nearly being killed, the Ortiz's still want the bomber to know the Gospel.<br><br>
"Even though there are people out there that despise the Lord, I would like to in one way or the other convey to them that Yeshua is the Messiah and He hasn't forgotten the promises He made to their forefathers, Abraham, Isacc and Jacob," David said.<br><br><b>Investigation Continues</b><br><br>
Police are investigating groups who may have a connection to the bombers and possibly helped finance it from America which would be a violation of U.S. law.<br><br>
"Israel and America have an agreement concerning security and terrorism and these people collecting money and donations from American citizens to bring over here to work against Messianic Jews," David said.<br><br>
The Ortiz's hope the case will improve religious freedom for messianic Jews, those who believe Jesus is the Jewish messiah.<br><br>
"That we as believers can exercise our freedom of religion and to openly exercise our faith without fear of being fire bombed, bombed, harassed, you know jobs being lost, kids thrown out of school, whatever," Leah said. "And I just pray that this will lead to greater freedom of religion for the Body of Messiah in Israel."<br><b><br>
David Ortiz: 'Stand by Israel'</b><br><br>
Despite the attempted murder, Ami's father says believers need to stand by Israel.<br><br>
"They should continue to pray for Israel, supporting Israel," David said. "These radicals are less than one percent of the population. They don't represent the Israeli public."<br><br>
"So we should continue loving Israel and one thing about these things, we're not only called to love our friends, we're called to love our enemies," he said.<br><br>
In addition to Ortiz bombing, Teitel is also suspected of killing two Palestinians in 1997 and planting a bomb in the home of left-wing Israeli Prize Laureate Ze'ev Sternhell, who was wounded in the blast.<br><br>
A spokesman for Israel's Shin Bet (Secret Service) said Teitel has confessed to most of the crimes. Teitel faces a court hearing on Wednesday.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305272009-11-02T06:00:00-07:002009-11-02T06:00:00-07:00CNN l November 2, 2009<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: CNN<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: November 2, 2009<br>
Country: USA<br>
Section: World<br>
Title: Attorney: Alleged 'Jewish terrorist' unstable<br>
Reporters: Michal Zippori and Guy Azriel<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/11/02/israel.terror.suspect/index.html">link</a><br><br>
ARTICLE<br><br>
Attorney: Alleged 'Jewish terrorist' unstable<br>
November 2, 2009 12:34 p.m. EST<br><br>
Jerusalem (CNN) -- An American-born Israeli man, described by police as a "Jewish terrorist," is mentally unstable and in need of psychiatric help, his attorney told CNN Monday.<br><br>
Israeli authorities Sunday announced the arrest of Yaakov "Jack" Teitel, 37, a West Bank settler who was arrested last month.<br><br>
Israeli police and security forces say he has been charged in connection with a string of attacks and murder plots over the past 12 years against Arabs, homosexuals, leftists, messianic Jews and police forces.<br><br>
Teitel's attorney Adi Keidar said his client has admitted to the 1997 shooting of a Palestinian man and laying explosive devices -- in addition to other crimes that he was not involved in, particularly the August shooting attack on a Tel Aviv gay youth club that killed two people.<br><br>
Police said that Teitel initially claimed responsibility for the attack, but they are still unsure about the identity of the shooter.<br><br>
Keidar said he has yet to see the full indictment against his client.<br><br>
Teitel sees himself as an emissary of God, who has come to eradicate all the profanities against God, according to Keidar. He said he believes Teitel is in need of immediate psychiatric evaluation.<br><br>
Teitel, 37, was arrested last month in Jerusalem after hanging posters in support of the Tel Aviv attack.<br><br>
"He was like a serial killer. This guy was a Jewish terrorist who targeted different types of people," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. "He was deeply involved in terrorism on all different levels".<br><br>
According to police, the long series of attacks began in 1997, when Teitel entered Israel as a tourist and managed to smuggle a handgun on board a British Airways flight to Tel Aviv.<br><br>
Teitel's first victim, police said, was Samir Balbisi, an east Jerusalem cab driver who was shot and killed. Two months later, the same gun was used to shoot and kill a Palestinian shepherd in the South Hebron Hills. Teitel was interrogated by police following the second killing but denied any involvement in the act and was later released.<br><br>
Teitel moved to Israel in 2000, into the West Bank settlement of Shvut Rachel, married and has four young children. According to Shin Bet, Israel's security agency, Teitel's father, who now lives in Israel as well, served as a dentist in the U.S. Marines during the Vietnam War. It is believed Teitel was first introduced to weapons and explosives during his time living on American military bases.<br><br>
In 2008 Teitel allegedly planted a bomb inside a package delivered to a house of a messianic Jewish family. Ami Ortiz, a 15 year old boy suffered serious injuries in the attack, police said. Next on Teitel's list of targets, police said, was Israel Prize laureate Zeev Sternhell. Teitel admitted in planting explosives at Sternhell's doorstep in September last year. Sternhell, a prominent left-wing activist was lightly wounded, according to police.<br><br>
Harsh questions were raised in the Israeli press Monday on how an alleged killer was able to escape the hands of the law for over 12 years and emphasized the difficulty of security forces in tracking Israeli terrorists.<br><br>
Shin Bet described Teitel as a lone wolf who did not confess his acts to anyone and carefully calculated his moves in order not to get caught. He did not learn the Hebrew language in all his years in Israel, they said.<br><br>
CNN's Michal Zippori and Guy Azriel contributed to this report.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305242009-11-02T06:00:00-07:002009-11-02T06:00:00-07:00Fox News l November 2, 2009<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: Fox News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: November 2, 2009<br>
Country: USA<br>
Section: World<br>
Title: Jewish Terrorist<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/11/02/jewish-terrorist/">link</a><br><br>
ARTICLE<br><br>
Jewish Terrorist<br>
November 2, 2009 - 2:40 PM | by: Michael Tobin<br><br>
Over the course of 12 years in which Yaakov (Jack) Teitel allegedly planned and executed attacks, Israeli Police already knew his name and had it connected to violence.<br><br>
12 years ago he confessed to killing an Arab shepherd, as well as an Arab taxi driver from East Jerusalem . But Teitel was released from police custody due to insufficient evidence. The murder cases fell onto the back burner and ultimately into oblivion.<br><br>
Teitel, a native of Florida , was only visiting Israel at the time. He left and returned to the United States .<br><br>
9 Years ago he returned to Israel , took up residence in a West Bank settlement and got married. He had 4 kids. According to Police and Shin Bet intelligence, Teitel sporadically embarked on a campaign of hatred which did not stay limited to Arabs.<br><br>
Initially, according to reports, Teitel stayed focused on Arabs, placing anti-personnel mines in the Arab-Israeli town of Abu Gosh , injuring no one. Police say in March of 2003 he placed a bomb near the home of a Palestinian in a little Village near Ramallah. In 2004, according to Police he left poison laced bottles of juice in another Palestinian Village . Still, no one was harmed.<br><br>
Then his hatred strayed. Police say in November of 2006, Teitel attempted a series of attacks intended to dissuade police from providing security for the gay pride parade through Jerusalem . That included placing an improvised explosive device at a police station. It was identified and diffused.<br><br>
Teitel told police that on April 20 of 2007 he bombed a monastery, injuring a tractor driver, because he heard the monks had been enticing Jewish children with candy and attempting to sway them to Christianity.<br><br>
March 20, 2008 a bomb exploded at the home of a Messianic Jewish family, seriously injuring a 15 year old boy. Teitel told police he placed the bomb because members of the family were “missionaries who intended to trap weak Jews.” Police say a security camera caught him placing the bomb and although he made an effort to hide his face, Teitel was identified.<br><br>
His last alleged attack came on September 25, 2008. A bomb was placed outside the home Zev Sternhell, a university professor who spoke publicly against the Jewish settler movement. Teitel confessed.<br><br>
Ironically, it was bloodshed in which police say Teitel took no part that led to his arrest. August 1st of this year, a lone gunman opened fire in a Gay youth center in Tel Aviv. The Gunman escaped. Teitel posted signs around a Jerusalem ultra orthodox neighborhood praising the attack. That’s when he was arrested. He boasted that he was the gunman. However, without releasing much, Police have said the evidence does not support Teitel’s involvement in that attack.<br><br>
He had a loaded gun on him at the time. Police found a substantial weapons cache buried in his yard which included 6 rifles and 3 handguns. Teitel told police he smuggled one gun on a plane, the others he smuggled in a shipping container.<br><br>
Israeli columnist Avi Issakarov opines today that the Teitel case points to a glaring double standard when police investigate the deaths of Palestinians as compared to those of Jews. “His big mistake, it seems, was targeting non-Arabs as well,” writes Issakarov. “The (justifiably) prevailing feeling among Palestinians in the West Bank is that their blood is of no consequence.”<br><br>
Teitel’s lawyer went on the radio and said that Teitel believes he is an “emissary of the Lord,” that God gave him orders for these attacks. His lawyer also said Teitel is unfit to stand trial.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305232009-11-02T06:00:00-07:002009-11-02T06:00:00-07:00Fox News l November 2, 2009<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: Fox News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: November 2, 2009<br>
Country: USA<br>
Section: World<br>
Title: Israeli Authorities Arrest Extremist Charged With Killing Palestinians<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,571054,00.html">link</a><br><br>
Israeli Authorities Arrest Extremist Charged With Killing Palestinians<br><br>
Monday, November 02, 2009<br><br>
Israeli authorities have arrested a Jewish-American extremist who confessed to killing two Palestinians and bombing the home of an Israeli professor in a series of high-profile hate crimes.<br><br>
Israel's Shin Bet security service says Yaakov "Jack" Teitel, a 37-year-old ultra-Orthodox West Bank settler, is behind the attacks, spanning 12 years.<br><br>
Police and security forces announced that Teitel's other victims include a family of messianic Jews, a monastery and Israeli police, whom he accused of begin pro-gay.<br><br>
Authorities originally suspected a Jewish underground for some of the attacks. But acquaintances described the father of four as a lone wolf, and authorities say he acted alone.<br><br>
Two Palestinians allegedly targeted by Teitel, a shepherd and taxi driver, were killed more than a decade ago in 1997. Professor Zeev Sternhell, an outspoken Israeli critic of Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, was wounded last year by a pipe bomb near his home last year.<br><br>
A short time after the explosion outside Sternhell's home, police found posters in the professor's neighborhood offering a $294,000 reward to anyone who killed a member of Israel's Peace Now movement — a group that opposes Jewish West Bank settlement activity, Reuters reported.<br><br>
Such attacks have sparked new fears that ideological friction in Israel could disrupt the country's internal stability as Israeli leaders work toward a land-for-peace agreement with Palestinians.<br><br>
Teitel immigrated to Israel in 2000 and now lives with his wife and four children in the West Bank settlement Shevut Rachel.<br><br>
An attorney for Teitel said that the Florida native believes he is an "emissary of the Lord" with a mission from God and said that Teitel is unfit to stand trial, Reuters reported.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305222009-11-02T06:00:00-07:002009-11-02T06:00:00-07:00Sky News l November 2, 2009<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: Sky News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: November 2, 2009<br>
Country: UK<br>
Section: World News<br>
Title: Jewish 'Terrorist' Held Over Hate-Crime Spree<br>
Reporter: Dominic Waghorn, Middle East correspondent<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Israel-Jewish-Settler-Yaakov-Jack-Teitel-Arrested-Over-Hate-Crime-Bombs-And-Murders-In-West-Bank/Article/200911115428972?f=rss">link</a><br><br>
ARTICLE<br><br>
Jewish 'Terrorist' Held Over Hate-Crime Spree<br><br>
10:01am UK, Monday November 02, 2009<br><br>
Dominic Waghorn, Middle East correspondent<br>
A Jewish settler who allegedly confessed to a 12-year spree of murderous hate-crimes has been arrested in the West Bank.<br><br>
Yaakov Teitel was arrested in West Bank<br><br>
Yaakov "Jack" Teitel, 37, was branded a Jewish "terrorist" in the Israeli media over attacks against Palestinians, left-wing and minority Israelis and homosexuals.<br><br>
He is accused of murdering a Palestinian taxi driver and a West Bank shepherd in 1997.<br><br>
In 2008, he allegedly maimed a 15-year-old boy with a booby-trapped present because he belonged to a community of Jews who believe in Jesus.<br><br>
He is also believed to have attacked a left-wing Israeli professor with a pipe-bomb in the same year.<br><br>
It is inconceivable that he did not arouse anyone's suspicion over such a very long period of time. But the fact is, no-one told on him.<br><br>
Alex Fishman, writing in the Yediot Ahronoth newspaper<br><br>
Israeli police and intelligence agents found an arsenal of weapons in the American-born suspect's West Bank home, as well as a bomb-making factory.<br><br>
They claim he also attacked Israeli police, who he accused of being "pro-gay".<br><br>
Officers said Teitel's homophobia motivated some of his more recent activity.<br><br>
They said he falsely claimed responsibility for the murders of two young gay men in a Tel Aviv youth centre, even though he had nothing to do with the attack.<br><br>
Teitel's arrest in early October was kept secret by an official gag order until last weekend.<br><br>
The news has ignited vigorous debate in the Israeli media. If convicted, he will join a hall of infamy of killer Jewish settlers.<br><br>
Israel has just commemorated the anniversary of the assassination of former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin by settler Yigal Amir.<br><br>
In 1994, another settler, Baruch Goldstein, massacred 29 Palestinians in a mosque in Hebron.<br><br>
Israeli police have insisted Teitel was a "lone wolf", operating on his own.<br><br>
The Jewish settler movement has been quick to distance itself from his activities and extreme personal ideology.<br><br>
But Israeli newspapers are sceptical, criticising both the settler movement and the Israeli police.<br><br>
"He lived in a very small community, Shvut Rahel," wrote Alex Fishman in Yediot Ahronoth.<br><br>
"It is inconceivable that he did not arouse anyone's suspicion over such a very long period of time. But the fact is, no-one told on him."<br><br>
Fishman pointed out that another resident of the same settlement was arrested in 2005 for the murder of five Palestinians.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305282009-11-01T06:00:00-07:002009-11-01T06:00:00-07:00The New York Times l November 1, 2009<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: The New York Times<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: November 1, 2009<br>
Country: USA<br>
Section: Middle East<br>
Title: Israelis Arrest West Bank Settler in Attacks<br>
Reporter: Ethan Bronner<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/world/middleeast/02israel.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Teitel&st=cse">link</a><br><br>
Israelis Arrest West Bank Settler in Attacks<br><br>
By ETHAN BRONNER<br>
Published: November 1, 2009<br><br>
JERUSALEM — The Israeli police said Sunday that they had arrested a 37-year-old American immigrant, a West Bank settler, and charged him in an array of killings and terrorist attacks over the last 12 years, including the murders of two Palestinians, the bombing of a leftist Israeli professor’s home and the maiming of a 15-year-old boy who belongs to a community of Jews who believe in Jesus.<br>
Skip to next paragraph<br>
Israeli Police, via European Pressphoto Agency<br><br>
Jack Teitel, an American immigrant, is suspected in two murders and the maiming of a teenager, among other assaults.<br><br>
The suspect, Jack Teitel, a father of four and a computer technician and Web site designer, was born in Florida, the son of a military dentist. He went back and forth between Israel and the United States starting in the 1990s, immigrating here in 2000. His parents followed a year later and live in a different West Bank settlement.<br><br>
The murders with which he has been charged, of a taxi driver in Jerusalem and a shepherd south of the West Bank city of Hebron, took place in 1997. The attacks on the teenager and on the professor occurred last year.<br><br>
Mr. Teitel is also charged with having attacked police officers on several occasions.<br><br>
“This investigation has exposed a dark and dangerous world where human life was lost and people were injured against a background of ideological extremism,” said Dudi Cohen, Israel’s police commissioner. He said it had involved extensive cooperation between the police and the Shin Bet internal security force. The arrest occurred several weeks ago but was subject to a court blackout until Sunday.<br><br>
Mr. Teitel, who goes by the Hebrew name Yaakov, lives with his wife, Rivka, and four young children in Shvut Rachel, a central West Bank settlement. He asserted that he acted alone in all cases, the police report stated.<br><br>
In recent years, Mr. Teitel seemed especially agitated over gay Jews, the police said. He put up posters against gay rights and attacked a police station in 2006 in hopes of diverting officers from protecting a gay pride parade. At a briefing for reporters, the police said he confessed to two killings at a gay community center in Tel Aviv in August, an event that shook the nation. But the police concluded that he had not been involved in it.<br><br>
The officers said they found weapons, ammunition and a weapons laboratory in his house. They also said he had smuggled weapons from the United States when he immigrated.<br><br>
The Jerusalem professor whose house was pipe-bombed, Zeev Sternhell, is a vocal critic of the settlers and the political right in Israel. Professor Sternhell, a professor emeritus of political science at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, was lightly wounded.<br><br>
Reacting to the arrest, Professor Sternhell said that Sunday was an important day in Israeli democracy and that he hoped Mr. Teitel would be treated no differently from any other terrorist suspect, meaning Palestinians charged with such activity.<br><br>
The Israeli boy who was badly injured a year and a half ago, Ami Ortiz, is still recovering from wounds caused by an explosive placed in a gift basket traditionally given out on the Jewish holiday of Purim. His mother, Leah Ortiz, also American and living in the West Bank settlement of Ariel, said in a statement that her “blood ran cold” when she heard about the arrest, especially the knowledge that the suspect lived only minutes away.<br><br>
“We are horrified by the fact that there are elements of Israeli society, Jews who feel justified in taking the lives of other Jews because of their beliefs,” she added.<br><br>
The Ortizes are part of a small and mistrusted community of messianic Jews in Israel, who consider themselves Jewish but believe in Jesus.<br><br>
Mr. Teitel’s neighbors said they were amazed and found it hard to believe that he committed the crimes he was accused of. Some described him as a loner but others called him quite sociable.<br><br>
“I have always known him to be a nice guy, someone who gave me rides, with a sweet wife,” said Batya Medad, a longtime resident of the nearby settlement of Shiloh. She recalled when Mr. Teitel arrived in the area as a bachelor and later found a wife and set up a home. “I was floored when I heard this.”<br><br>
Mr. Teitel told the police that the murders were in response to Palestinian terrorist attacks.<br><br>
He was detained in 2000 for those murders but freed because of insufficient evidence. It was only after the Sternhell bombing that the police began to note similarities in many of the attacks and picked up his trail again.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305212009-11-01T06:00:00-07:002009-11-01T06:00:00-07:00U.S. News l November 1, 2009<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: U.S. News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: November 1, 2009<br>
Country: USA<br>
Section: Nation & World<br>
Title: Israel nabs serial attacker of Arabs, leftist Jews<br>
Reporter: Aaron Heller, Associated Press Writer<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_ISRAEL_HATE_CRIMES?SITE=DCUSN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT">link</a><br><br>
ARTICLE<br><br>
Nov 1, 1:20 PM EST<br><br>
Israel nabs serial attacker of Arabs, leftist Jews<br><br>
By ARON HELLER<br>
Associated Press Writer<br><br>
Israel nabs serial attacker of Arabs, leftist Jews<br><br>
JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israeli authorities have arrested a Jewish-American extremist suspected of carrying out a series of high-profile hate crimes, security officials said Sunday.<br><br>
Police and Shin Bet security forces say Jack Teitel, a 37-year-old ultra-Orthodox Jewish West Bank settler, was behind the killing of two Arabs, the targeting of a peace activist and an attack on a breakaway Jewish sect over a period of 12 years.<br><br>
Authorities originally suspected an extremist Jewish underground for some of the attacks. But acquaintances described Teitel, a father of four, as a lone wolf, and authorities say he acted alone.<br><br>
Jerusalem police commander Aharon Franco said Teitel immigrated to Israel from Florida, and that he grew up on U.S. military bases as the son of a dentist serving in the Marines.<br><br>
Franco said a joint police and Shin Bet operation nabbed Teitel earlier this month and he confessed to the crimes and re-enacted them. Police also displayed photos of a large weapons cache seized from the suspect's home.<br><br>
"He is like a serial killer. This guy was a Jewish terrorist who targeted different types of people," said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. "He was deeply involved in terrorism in all different levels."<br><br>
Results of the police investigation will be turned over to the state prosecutor to prepare an indictment.<br><br>
In his most noted attack, Teitel is accused of sending a booby-trapped gift basket in March 2008 to the home of a family of American messianic Jews in Israel, who believe that Jesus is the Messiah but still consider themselves Jewish.<br><br>
The explosion seriously wounded the family's 15-year-old son, Ami Ortiz, severing two toes, damaging his hearing and harming his promising basketball career.<br><br>
"We are horrified by the fact that there are elements of Israeli society, Jews who feel justified in taking the lives of other Jews because of their beliefs," said Ami's mother, Leah Ortiz. "We hope and pray that justice will be done in this case."<br><br>
Teitel is also accused of carrying out a pipe bomb attack in September 2008 that wounded a prominent Israeli professor and peace activist, Zeev Sternhell, an expert on the history of fascism who had spoken out against West Bank settlements.<br><br>
Responding to news of the arrest, Sternhell said, "I hope the system deals with this terrorist as it deals with all other terrorists, Jewish and Arab alike."<br><br>
Police also accused Teitel of killing a Palestinian taxi driver and a Palestinian farmer in 1997, and of stabbing and wounding an Arab in Jerusalem whom he suspected of making sexual advances. He also attempted to bomb police stations and patrols because they provided security for gay pride parades.<br><br>
Such hate crimes are relatively rare in Israel. The most notable Israeli hate criminals were Ami Popper, who killed seven Palestinian laborers at an Israeli bus stop in 1990, and Yona Avrushmi, who threw a grenade into a peace rally in 1983, killing a participant.<br><br>
Teitel is not suspected of being responsible for the shooting attack against a gay youth center in Tel Aviv in August, in which two people were killed, though police said he confessed to that attack as well.<br><br>
Teitel arrived in Israel from the U.S. a decade ago and has lived in the West Bank settlement of Shvut Rachel, north of Jerusalem, for the past six years, his brother-in-law Moshe Avitan said.<br><br>
Avitan said Teitel was a loner who spoke no Hebrew and rarely expressed political opinions. He worked from home in the computer field and has a degree in business.<br><br>
Teitel's lawyer, Adi Keidar, told Israel's Channel 2 TV that his client is "mentally disturbed."</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305202009-11-01T06:00:00-07:002009-11-01T06:00:00-07:00Fox News l November 1, 2009<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: Fox News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: November 1, 2009<br>
Country: USA<br>
Section: World<br>
Title: Israel Arrests Extremist Accused of Attacking Arabs, Peace Activists<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,570907,00.html">link</a><br><br>
ARTICLE<br><br>
Israel Arrests Extremist Accused of Attacking Arabs, Peace Activists<br><br>
Sunday, November 01, 2009<br><br>
JERUSALEM — Israeli authorities have arrested a Jewish-American extremist suspected of carrying out a series of high-profile hate crimes against Arabs, peace activists and a breakaway Jewish sect.<br><br>
Israel's Shin Bet security service says Jack Teitel, a 37-year-old ultra-Orthodox West Bank settler, is behind the attacks, spanning 12 years.<br><br>
Police and security forces said Sunday that Teitel's targets included the murder of two Arabs and bombing attacks against a prominent left-wing academic, a family of messianic Jews, a monastery and Israeli police, whom he accused of begin pro-gay.<br><br>
Authorities originally suspected a Jewish underground for some of the attacks. But acquaintances described the father of four as a lone wolf, and authorities say he acted alone.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305162009-11-01T06:00:00-07:002009-11-01T06:00:00-07:00Ynet News l November 1, 2009<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: Ynet News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: November 1, 2009<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Police commissioner: Teitel probe reveals dark, dangerous world<br>
Reporter: Efrat Weiss<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3798683,00.html">link</a><br><br>
ARTICLE<br><br>
Police commissioner: Teitel probe reveals dark, dangerous world<br><br>
Police Commissioner Dudi Cohen said on Sunday that the uncovering of the Yaakov Teitel affair revealed "a dark and dangerous world."<br><br>
Cohen noted the the investigation was complex and was conducted under the collaboration of the Shin Bet and the police. (Efrat Weiss)</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305152009-11-01T06:00:00-07:002009-11-01T06:00:00-07:00The Jerusalem Post l November 1, 2009<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: The Jerusalem Post<br>
Type: Newspaper & Online<br>
Date: November 1, 2009<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Jewish terrorist arrested for alleged series of hate crimes<br>
Reporter: Yaakov Katz <br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1256799061280&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull">link</a><br><br>
ARTICLE<br><br>
Jewish terrorist arrested for alleged series of hate crimes<br>
By Yaakov Katz <br><br>
The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and Israel Police have arrested an American-born Jewish settler who is allegedly behind an unprecedented series of deadly terror shootings and bombings spanning over a decade, in which two Palestinians were killed and Israel Prize Laureate Prof. Ze'ev Sternhell was injured. According to the Shin Bet, he also planted a bomb at the entrance to house of a messianic family in Ariel, seriously wounding their son, then-15-year-old Ami Ortiz.<br><br>
Jewish suspect apprehended over alleged hate crimes<br><br>
Yaakov "Jack" Teitel, 37, was arrested by the Israel Police's elite counter-terror unit YAMAM on October 7th as he was hanging flyers in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Nof in support of the attack on a Tel Aviv gay and lesbian youth club in August in which two people were killed. Teitel, the Shin Bet said, was not the gunman in that attack.<br><br>
Teitel, the father of four from the settlement of Shevut Rahel, came to Israel in 1997 and allegedly succeeded in smuggling a pistol into Israel aboard a British Airways flight. The Shin Bet says the gun was used to kill an east Jerusalem cab driver on June 8, 1997 and two months later to shoot and kill a Palestinian shepherd near the settlement of Carmel in the Southern Hebron Hills.<br><br>
Teitel then left Israel for Florida and returned three years later in 2000. According to the Shin Bet he was wanted at the time by American authorities for his alleged involvement in violent criminal activity in the US.<br><br>
"He was a lone attacker," a senior Shin Bet official said when explaining why it took some 12 years since the first attack to arrest Teitel, who has a degree in business and made a living by developing websites.<br><br>
Teitel, officials said, was an "autodidact" when it came to weapons expertise. In addition to the gun smuggled by air, Teitel is alleged also smuggled another nine automatic machine guns and pistols into Israel hidden in a shipping container. His father, who now lives in the settlement of Beitar Illit, served for many years as a dentist in the US Marines and officials said it was possible that Teitel learned about weapons and explosives during his time on military bases.<br>
Yaakov Teitel's weapons' cache.<br><br>
"He is an autodidact when it came to using weapons and assembling bombs," the Shin Bet official said. "They were not the most advanced devices but they were pretty sophisticated and deadly."<br><br>
Teitel was actually arrested by police and the Shin Bet upon his return to Israel in 2000 based on intelligence they had obtained indicating that he was behind the 1997 shootings. The police released him after they could not find evidence to support the intelligence. For this reason, Teitel was allowed to continue to receive an official license to carry a pistol which was discovered loaded and on him when he was arrested last month.<br><br>
Officials said that Teitel was extremely cautious and did not share his attacks with anyone including his wife. As an example, police said that he was nabbed in Har Nof last month hanging flyers while wearing thick gloves in order to not leave a fingerprint. However, he had been under surveillance for a period of time before then.<br><br>
During his interrogations, Teitel confessed to a long list of shooting and bombing attacks. The first two attacks were the shootings in 1997. In November 2006, he planted a bomb inside a police station in the settlement of Eli. The bomb was discovered and dismantled but the Shin Bet official said that "it was sophisticated" and had it gone off "people would have been killed."<br><br>
He said he carried out the coming attack to try and deter police from providing security for a scheduled gay pride rally in Jerusalem later that month.<br><br>
In April 2007, Teitel allegedly planted a bomb next to the Beit Jamal Monastery near Beit Shemesh. A Palestinian driving a tractor set off the bomb and was injured. Teitel told his interrogators that he planted the device since he heard that the monastery was seducing Jewish children with candies.<br><br>
Teitel confessed to planting another bomb in the Jerusalem neighborhood Ramot near a police car on May 15, 2007. The bomb exploded but no one was injured. A month later he allegedly planted another bomb on the side of a road near the Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo and detonated it as a police car passed by. No one was injured.<br><br>
Teitel, officials said, made the explosive devices in a room in his family's home in Shevut Rahel. He hid the weapons cache near his home and hid another gun near the settlement of Adei Ad.<br><br>
He confessed to planting a bomb on March 20, 2008 at the entrance to the Ortiz family home in Ariel, who he believed were messianic Jews and were trying to convert Jews to Christianity.<br><br>
On September 25, 2008, Teitel planed a bomb at the entrance to the home of Sternhell in Jerusalem, which went off and injured the well-known academic. He said he decided to target Sternhell since he understood that the professor had called to kill Jewish settlers.<br><br>
He also confessed to stabbing an Arab youth in 1997 in Independence Park since he thought he was gay.<br><br>
Officials said that Teitel was in the midst of planning additional attacks but would not specify against whom.<br><br>
In the arms cache found near his house, police discovered a sophisticated sniper rifle, an M15 machine gun, an M16 shortened automatic rifle, a Glock pistol as well as a Browning 9mm. The gun that he said he smuggled into Israel aboard a British Airways flight and was used in the 1997 murders was not discovered by police. He said he hid it next to the Sha'are Zedek hospital in Jerusalem and despite extensive searches it was not found.<br><br>
While police do not have the murder weapon, they said that Teitel confessed to the murders, reenacted them and knew details that only the murderer could have known.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305142009-11-01T06:00:00-07:002009-11-01T06:00:00-07:00Haaretz l November 1, 2009<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: Haaretz<br>
Type: Newspaper & Online<br>
Date: November 1, 2009<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Netanyahu: 'Minority' of violent far-rightists must be stopped<br>
Reporter: Haaretz Service<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1125068.html">link</a><br><br>
ARTICLE<br><br>
Netanyahu: 'Minority' of violent far-rightists must be stopped<br>
By Haaretz Service<br><br>
Following the arrest of a West Bank settler suspected of multiple murders and bomb attacks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel must fight the terror posed by violent extreme rightists, whom he termed a "marginal minority."<br><br>
The Shin Bet revealed that it arrested Shvut Rachel resident Yaakov Teitel last month for allegedly killing two Palestinians, and attempting to carry out a number of terror attacks against homosexuals, leftists and a Messianic Jewish family in the West Bank.<br><br>
"There is still among us a minority that is not prepared to accept democracy and are not prepared to accept the rule of law," said Netanyahu in a statementafter news of the arrest broke.<br>
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"They do not represent the majority of the nation," the prime minister added. "They are a small and marginal group, but we have already seen the strength and damage of one murderer. We must continue to condemn the use of violence and to use all legal power against any attempt at violence."<br><br>
Sternhell: Treat Jewish and Arab terrorists the same<br><br>
Professor Ze'ev Sternhell, an outspoken critic of Israel who was one of Teitel's alleged targets, said on Sunday that he hoped the extreme rightist would be treated with the same legal severity as is given to suspected Palestinian terrorists.<br><br>
"I'm pleased that the great effort put in by the police and the Shin Bet in pursuing the alleged criminal culminated successfully," said Sternhell, adding: "This is an important day for democracy."<br><br>
"The attempt last year to severely hurt a man and his family simply because of his views and stances was a dangerous phase in the deterioration of civil rights and the right of the individual to affect Israeli society," Sternhell added, referring to the bomb attack that targeted him.<br><br>
"If the perpetrator of this attack would not have been caught I think Israeli society would have paid the price," he said. "I hope the law enforcement system will treat this terrorist in the same way it does with any terrorist, Jew or Arab."<br><br>
Teen victim of Teitel attack: I'm relieved he was caught<br><br>
Ami Ortiz, the Ariel teenager who was seriously wounded two years ago when he opened a package bomb allegedly sent by Teitel, told Army Radio on Sunday he was still suffering from the devastating effects of the near-fatal attack, but that he was relieved that a suspect had been caught.<br><br>
"Teitel disagreed with my family's views, and decided to kill using something as inconspicuous and carefree as a mishloach manot, a Purim gift basket," said Ortiz, whose parents are prominent in the Messianic Jewish community.<br><br>
The 17-year-old added that "a child smiles when he sees a mishloach manot, but Teitel used something so pure to do a horrible thing, which almost killed me, and which leaves me still suffering."<br><br>
"The blast left me critically wounded, hanging between life and death. I feel better now. The news of his arrest makes me very happy," Ortiz said. "It's just a relief to know that a man that tried to kill you is now in the hands of police, and that he can't hurt anyone anymore."<br><br>
Ortiz also said that his community knew "that there were more people like him ready to do things of this nature, but we hope that security forces will do everything in their power to stop these people."<br><br>
"Leah Ortiz, Ami's mother, concluded by saying that "knowing that someone who tried to kill us was arrested makes us breath a sigh a relief for the first time after a long period of living in fear."<br><br>
MK Tamir: Right-wing terror still strong as we remember Rabin<br><br>
Science and Technology Minister Daniel Hershkowitz said following news of the arrest that he "categorically condemned the actions of the Jewish terrorist. It is the insane behavior of a lone man, one that is foreign to the ways of Judaism."<br><br>
Labor MK Yuli Tamir, a former education minister, said that even as Israel commemorates the assassination of former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, the right-wing movement was still going strong.<br><br>
"It turns out, on the anniversary of Rabin's assassination, that the breeding grounds of the far-right are continuing to grow stray weeds,"<br>
she said.<br><br>
Meretz MK Nitzan Horowitz said the suspected Jewish terrorist was "poisoned" by the rightist movement.<br><br>
Lawyer for Messianic Jews: More attacks seems imminent<br><br>
Calev Myers, the legal advisor of the Jerusalem Institute of Justice, which represents many Messianic Jews who claim discrimination by the Israeli establishment, said attacks such as the one Teitel was alleged to have perpetrated could easily happen again.<br><br>
"This religious attack is the rotten fruit of organized incitement," he said.<br><br>
"These groups allow themselves to incite and hurt a persecuted minority and to sanction attacks against all messianic Jews," Myers said.<br><br>
Such incement was prevalent even before the explosives were placed near the Ortiz residence in Ariel, but "the authorities did nothing," he said.<br><br>
"Incitement continues even today and it's only a matter of time until the next religious attack," he added. "The writing is already on the wall."<br><br>
Yonatan Ger, chairman of Jerusalem's gay and lesbian Open House, said that a clear line links "Teitel's horrific actions and hating others, whomever those others may be."<br><br>
Although Teitel has claimed responsibility for the attacks on the Tel Aviv gay youth club, many wonder if the murderer of Nir Katz, 26 and Liz Trobishi, 16, is still at large.<br><br>
Mike Hamel, the head of Israel's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Association, said that the gay community had "hoped that the police did in fact apprehend the murderer, but now it turns out that he isn't connected to killings, even though he confessed to have perpetrated them."<br><br>
"I've spoken with police officials investigating the youth club murders and they told me they had a suspect who had tied himself to a series of attacks, and was responsible for distributing anti-gay posters all over Jerusalem, but that he wasn't suspected in the murders themselves," Hamel said.<br><br>
However, Hamel said he was confident that "the police is doing everything in its power to solve the murder and that it is not interested in covering up for someone in any way."<br><br>
Prominent gay journalist and filmmaker Gal Uchovsky commented on Teitel's arrest, as well as on the fact that he had confessed to the attacks on the Tel Aviv gay youth club, despite not being involved in the incident" A man who brags for a murder he didn't commit is crazy."<br><br>
"It's very saddening to learn that there's someone in Israel who would like to admit to killing gay people and I hope his community rejects him and that its leaders clarify that they do not feel as he does on these issues."</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305132009-11-01T06:00:00-07:002009-11-01T06:00:00-07:00Haaretz l November 1, 2009<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: Haaretz<br>
Type: Newspaper & Online<br>
Date: November 1, 2009<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Settler admits to murder, series of bomb attacks<br>
Reporter: Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent<br>
Article: <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1125063.html" target="_new">link</a><br><br>
ARTICLE<br><br>
Settler admits to murder, series of bomb attacks<br>
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent<br>
Tags: Israel news, Jewish terrorist <br><br>
A resident of the West Bank settlement outpost Shvut Rachel was arrested last month for suspected murder and for his alleged role in a string of attempted murder plots, according to details of an investigation revealed on Sunday after a gag order on the case was lifted.<br><br>
Yaakov "Jack" Teitel, 37, is suspected of killing two Palestinians, for rigging the package bomb which left the child of a Messianic Jew seriously wounded, for attempting to kill left-wing professor Ze'ev Sternhell, and for his alleged role in a series of warning attacks against Israel Police at the time of the Gay Pride Parades.<br><br>
According to the Shin Bet and Israel Police, Teitel has confessed to most of the allegations against him.<br><br>
The footage below shows a man believed to be Teitel rigging a bomb package sent to the Ortiz family, Messianic Jews living in the West Bank settlement of Ariel.<br><br>
Teitel, a resident of the northern West Bank outpost, was born in Florida and has moved back and forth between the United States and Israel over the last two decades. In 2000, he returned to Israel to live permanently.<br><br>
During a search of his home, police discovered rifles, handguns and explosive materials; they were unable, however, to find the gun which he allegedly used to kill the Palestinians.<br><br>
He even apparently claimed during his investigation to involvement in the attack on a gay-lesbian youth club in Tel Aviv, in which two people were killed. The Shin Bet has said, however, that there is not sufficient evidence at this point to tie him to that attack.<br><br>
Teitel was arrested on October 7 in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Har Nof, in Jerusalem, after posting signs around town praising the attack on the Tel Aviv gay club.<br><br>
His posters were signed with the name 'Shleisel,' referring to the ultra-Orthodox man who stabbed and wounded a number of marchers during the Jerusalem pride parade a couple of years ago.<br><br>
Police also found posters in his neighbourhood offering a one million shekel reward to anyone killing a member of Israel's Peace<br>
Now movement, that opposes West Bank settlement activity.<br><br>
Teitel was arrested after a prolonged police follow-up; he was in possession of a loaded gun at the time of the arrest. He was interrogated without right to a lawyer. Deliberations over his arrest were held at a number of courts, even reaching the High Court of Justice.<br><br>
During his investigation, Teitel repeatedly said that he had acted of his own accord and that nobody else was involved in his alleged crimes.<br><br>
His wife, Rivka, was brought in for questioning for a few hours a little over a week ago. She reserved her right to silence. Police have said that they do not have sufficient evidence to believe that she had known of his plans, even though the majority of his weapons were discovered at their house and in the adjacent yard.<br><br>
According to a senior Shin Bet source, Teitel was an "autodidact" who taught himself to use weapons and rig explosives, apparently on the Internet.<br><br>
Teitel has confessed to murdering a Palestinian shepherd near Mount Hebron in 1997 and to killing an Arab taxi driver in East Jerusalem some two months later. He said that he came to Israel precisely to carry out attacks against Palestinians as revenge for suicide bombings.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305122009-11-01T06:00:00-07:002021-08-09T22:56:23-06:00Haaretz l November 1, 2009Publication: Haaretz
<div style="text-align: justify;">Type: Newspaper & Online<br>
Date: November 1, 2009<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Title: Who is suspected Jewish terrorist Yaakov Teitel?<br>
Reporter: Chaim Levinson, Haaretz Correspondent<br>
Article: <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1125062.html" target="_new">link</a><br><br>
ARTICLE<br><br>
Who is suspected Jewish terrorist Yaakov Teitel?<br>
By Chaim Levinson, Haaretz Correspondent<br><br>
Yaakov Teitel, who was arrested last month for suspected murder and a string of alleged murder attempts, was born in Florida in November 1972, the son of Mordehai (Mark) and Devorah (Dianne), American ultra-Orthodox Jews.<br><br>
His father was a dentist, who served a stint in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War, and at some point was even placed in forward fighting positions. His mother worked as a medical secretary.<br>
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When Teitel was a teenager, his family moved to Norfolk, Virginia. He later received a bachelor's degree in psychology.<br><br>
Teitel began making regular trips to Israel in the mid-1990s using a tourist visa, around the time the settler "hill op youth" began to form in the West Bank.<br><br>
The movement was begun by religious youth who had grown tired of the conventional and "bourgeoisie" settlements and began to erect farms on hilltops, mostly in the vicinity of the West Bank city of Hebron. Teitel began to wander around the Hebron hilltops and became enamored with the farmer's lifestyle.<br><br>
August 1997 marked Teitel's first run-in with the law, after he was arrested by the Shin Bet on suspicion of shooting Palestinian Isa Machmara, a Palestinian resident to death during a walk along the road near the settlement Carmel.<br><br>
He said during his investigation that he came to Israel precisely to carry out attacks against Palestinians as revenge for suicide bombings.<br><br>
In a conversation with Haaretz, Teitel's former lawyer Baruch Ben Yosef, said "he was arrested and then shortly after he was released. He was the only one arrested in this case."<br><br>
His father Mark recalled that "he was in Israel, and he had some issue with the Shin Bet, but I'm not well-informed in the details as I was abroad at the time."<br><br>
Following his release, Tietler returned to the United States. Hebron case 97/1626 was subsequently closed after 6 years, due to lack of evidence.<br><br>
After returning to the U.S., Tietel took a computer course with Microsoft and began to work as a computer technician. In 1999 he returned to Israel, moving by himself to the settlement Shvut Rachel in the northern West Bank, officially immigrating to Israel in December of 2000.<br><br>
According to his former attorney, Ben Yosef, Tietel was considering the option of starting a farm in the Negev. Ben Yosef even traveled with Teitel to asses a potential location, but the venture never materialized.<br><br>
After a year his parents and his younger sister also immigrated to Israel and settled in the ultra-Orthodox city, Beitar Illit, west of the Gush Etzion settlement bloc.<br><br>
In 2002, Teitel met Rivka Pepperman, a dance teacher from Manchester, England and the two got married in 2003. The couple has four children; the eldest is a 5-and-a-half year old girl, and the youngest is 3 months old.<br><br>
While Teitel had been employed in the computer industry, and was apparently in possession of a large amount of related equipment, he did not work in any specific firm and, according to his wife, had recently been having trouble inding work.<br><br>
Although the military summoned Teitel for preliminary checks, he was never drafted as a result of his advanced age, medical history and familial state.<br><br>
Teitel was always considered an outcast in Shvut Rachel, as a result of his limited proficiency in Hebrew and the family's tendency to stay indoors. Neighbors said that Teitel was hardly ever seen around the settlement, and that he didn't take regular part in services in the local synagogue.<br><br>
Moshe Avitan, Teitel's brother-in-law, who also resides in Shvut Rachel, told Haaretz that the family "kept to their own. I was never a dinner guest at their house. I hardly know him, since he didn't speak Hebrew very well."<br><br>
Other residents of the settlement agreed that Teitel was a little-known, low-key introvert, unknown also to local far rightists and within the hilltop movement. According to a local source, Teitel "was somewhat active in the hilltop region, and people could recognize his face, but nothing beyond that."<br><br>
Teitel did have, however, two acquaintances in Shvut Rachel: Avraham Richland, a 22-year-old former Kahanist, and fellow American native Yosef Eshpinoza. Eshpinoza, 50, had befriended Teitel after the latter aided him when he had fallen ill.<br><br>
In 2005, Richland was arrested, and eventually released by police after it was discovered he had consorted with Eden Natan-Zada, an Israel Defense Forces deserter who opened fire in a bus in the northern Israeli town of Shfaram in 2005, murdering four Israeli Arabs.<br><br>
Richland reportedly opted out of the Kahane-influenced circles after getting married, shifting his focus on his job as a mover ,as well as on his new family. According to Shvut Rachel residents, Teitel also instructed Richland in martial arts.<br><br>
In 2006, Teitel allegedly returned to terrorist activity. Why he chose to do so, and what his motives were are two questions that still have no clear answer. The mystery behind Teitel's motives is most significant, considering the versatility of his targets.<br><br>
Next to the explosive device Teitel allegedly placed near left-wing Prof. Ze'ev Sternhell's home was a note detailing the steps the "arch-villain" was taking to erase the laws of the Torah and "to kill your loved ones."<br><br>
The State of Israel, the note said, "was committed to eradicating the Jewish settlements in the West Bank," and intent on "physically and sexually abusing our women and children while avoiding punishment."<br><br>
The State of Israel, Teitel said, was also guilty of "freeing hundreds of Palestinian terrorists and training them to return and harm our children," as well as "encouraging and funding artificial fertilizations, causing the murders of 25,000 Jewish babies every year."<br><br>
Finally, the paper said the state had been "supporting Christian missionaries whose sole aim is to make us convert from our religion," as well as "physically and emotionally destroying our brothers in Gush Katif."<br><br>
However, Teitel's acquaintances said they had never heard him utter sentiments such as those expressed in the note found at Sternhell's home.<br>
Teitel's wife told Haaretz that "he was not involved with anti-gay activity or anything of this sort."<br><br>
Ben-Yosef, a regular at anti-gay demonstrations, said he had never seen Teitel at such events, and had never heard him express similar opinions.<br><br>
Far-rightists describe Teitel's actions as a great mystery ? a quiet and introverted man, who never let on into what was inside.<br><br>
A member of the family told Haaretz that Rebecca did not believe her husband was guilty, and did not think he was capable of committing the acts attributed to him.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305102009-11-01T06:00:00-07:002009-11-01T06:00:00-07:00BBC l November 1, 2009<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: BBC<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: November 1, 2009<br>
Country: UK<br>
Section: News / Middle East<br>
Title: Israeli settler held over attacks<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8337150.stm">link</a><br><br>
ARTICLE<br><b><br>
Israeli settler held over attacks</b><br><br>
(Yaakov Teitel's lawyer said his client was "mentally disturbed")<br><br><b>Israeli police have arrested a Jewish settler who they say has confessed to a string of high-profile hate attacks.</b><br><br>
These allegedly include the killing of two Palestinians 12 years ago, and the bombing last year of the home of the Israeli academic, Zeev Sternhell.<br><br>
Yaakov Teitel, a 37-year-old American immigrant who lives in the West Bank, was detained last month after handing out leaflets condemning homosexuals.<br><br>
Police said they believed Mr Teitel had acted alone during the hate campaign.<br><br>
"He is like a serial killer. This guy was a Jewish terrorist who targeted different types of people," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld added.<br><br>
"He was deeply involved in terrorism in all different levels."<br><br>
Mr Teitel's lawyer, Adi Keidar, told Israel Army Radio that his client was "mentally disturbed" and believed he was an "emissary of the Lord" who was instructed to carry out the attacks by God.<br><br>
"We are horrified by the fact that there are elements of Israeli society, Jews who feel justified in taking the lives of other Jews because of their beliefs." <i>-Leah Ortiz<br></i><br><b>Booby-trapped gift</b><br><br>
At a news conference on Sunday, officials said Mr Teitel had been arrested earlier this month in the Har Nof area of Jerusalem following a lengthy investigation by the police and the Shin Bet internal security service.<br><br>
He had been giving out leaflets in the ultra-Orthodox neighbourhood praising an attack on a gay youth club in Tel Aviv in August that killed two people. A large weapons cache was later found at his home in the West Bank settlement outpost Shvut Rachel, where he lives with his wife and four children.<br><br>
During questioning, Mr Teitel confessed to several crimes, saying he had emigrated to Israel to carry out attacks against Palestinians as revenge for suicide bombings which killed Israeli citizens, the added.<br><br>
The crimes are said to include the murders of a Palestinian shepherd near Mount Hebron in 1997 and an Palestinian taxi driver in East Jerusalem two months later, and the stabbing of an Arab.<br><br>
More recently, he was allegedly responsible for a pipe bomb attack which wounded Mr Sternhell, a well-known critic of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and opponent of the Israeli blockade of Gaza.<br><br>
(Zeev Sternhell suffered minor shrapnel wounds in one leg in the attack)<br><br>
After the September 2008 attack, posters were found offering a 1m shekel ($294,000) reward to anyone who killed a member of the Peace Now Movement, which opposes Jewish settlement activity.<br><br>
Mr Teitel is also said to have confessed to sending a booby-trapped gift basket in March that year to a family of Messianic Jews, who believe in Jesus as a saviour. The blast seriously wounded the family's 15-year-old son.<br><br>
Video footage released on Sunday purportedly shows him leaving the bomb outside the Americans' home in the settlement of Ariel.<br><br>
He was also suspected to attempting to bomb Israeli police stations and patrols because they provided security for gay pride parades, but not for the attack on the gay youth club, police said.<br><br>
Responding to the arrest, Mr Sternhell said: "I hope the system deals with this terrorist as it deals with all other terrorists, Jewish and Arab alike."<br><br>
Leah Ortiz, one of the Messianic Jews whose home was bombed last year, said she was "horrified by the fact that there are elements of Israeli society, Jews who feel justified in taking the lives of other Jews because of their beliefs".</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305092009-11-01T06:00:00-07:002009-11-01T06:00:00-07:00Israel Today l November 1, 2009<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: Israel Today<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: November 1, 2009<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Section: Headline News<br>
Title: Suspect arrested in Ami Ortiz bombing case<br>
Reporter: Israel Today Staff<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=19876">link</a><br><br>
BREAKING: Suspect arrested in Ami Ortiz bombing case<br>
Messianic teen was severely wounded in 2008 Purim bombing<br><br>
The Israeli police on Sunday lifted a gag order on the recent arrest of a suspect in the investigation into the 2008 Purim bomb attack on the Ortiz family, local Messianic leaders who live in the Samarian town of Ariel.<br><br>
The suspect, an American-born religious Jewish man from a nearby settlement, left a Purim package on the Ortiz's doorstep, which is a common practice during the holiday. But the package contained a powerful bomb that exploded in the face of then-15-year-old Ami Ortiz as he picked it up to take it into the house.<br><br>
Ami went through more than a year of painful surgeries and rehabilitation, but overcame early diagnoses that he would have trouble ever walking again, would lose his hearing and would lose sight in at least one eye.<br><br>
Israel's Messianic community was at first frustrated in what seemed to be foot-dragging by the police in investigating the case, presumably because they knew the perpetrator was an Orthodox Jew and did not want to sully the image of the anti-missionary groups that target Messianic leaders like the Ortiz's.<br><br>
The suspect, 37-year-old father of four Yaakov "Jack" Teitel, was also connected to a number of other attacks over the past decade, including the bombing and wounding of a well-known ultra-leftist university professor in Jerusalem last September.<br><br>
During his recent interrogation, Teitel reportedly confessed to bombing the Ortiz family because they were trying to "convert Jews to Christianity."</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305072009-07-14T07:00:00-06:002017-01-13T06:44:06-07:00Yediot Ahronot_July 14, 2009Publication: Yediot Ahronot<br>
Type: Newspaper<br>
Date: July 14, 2009<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Section: N/A<br>
Title: The Hero With The Flag<br>
Reporter: Reuben Weiss<br>
Article PDF Download: <a href="/files/17008/AmiOrtiz.com_YediotAhronot_7.14.09.pdf" target="_new">link</a><br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/25847/eef0be78f4eff04b9fad138bdecc6ebf72f3dfde/large/PressImage_AmiOrtiz_YediotAhronot_7.14.09.jpg?1377783040" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="323" width="400" /><div style="text-align: justify;">
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THE HERO WITH THE FLAG <br><br>
In an exceptional gesture, Puerto Rico chose a teenager, Amiel Ortiz, who was wounded by a booby-trapped Purim gift basket a year and a half ago in Ariel, to lead their contingent in the opening ceremony. <br><br>
Article by Reuben Weiss <br><br>
Amiel Ortiz, an exceptional athlete who is 16 and a half years old from Ariel, made headlines a year and a half ago when he was critically wounded on Purim from a booby trapped Purim gift that was brought to his familyʼs home. In a very exciting and unique gesture, the Puerto Rican contingent to the Maccabiah Games decided to choose him to lead their contingent yesterday in the opening ceremony. <br><br>
In the month of March 2008, Ortiz, who at the time was the captain of the Teens Divsion Ariel HaPoel basketball team, returned to his home and found a wrapped package on the table that had been placed by the door of his house, and which was brought inside by the housekeeper. Ortiz, because it was Purim eve, reasoning that it was a Purim gift package, opened it and It exploded, wounding him critically. The doctors at Beilenson Hospital where the teenager was brought, fought to save his life. “He suffered 3rd degree burns, more than 100 pieces of metal and glass shards penetrated every part of his body, and until today, he has undergone 11 operations”, Ortizʼs mother Leah told us yesterday. <br><br>
As a result of the bomb that was sent to the familyʼs home, an investigation was opened by the police and the secret services, on the suspicion that the terror attack was carried out because of religious reasons, because the teenager belongs to a family which belongs to the group called Messianic Jews, that believe that Yeshua is the Messiah and who pray to him. Despite their efforts, the investigation hasnʼt come up with anything.<br><br>
Ortiz, who still has most of the shards remaining in his body, and whose doctors were forced to amputate parts of his toes on his left foot from the severe injury that he sustained, began the difficult rehabilitation process. “The boy is a hero” his mother said yesterday, talking about Ortiz who is the youngest of her 6 children. “He didnʼt give up; he successfully finished this school year and will begin the 11th grade in the Fall. About 10 months ago he also gradually went back to basketball. He still has to undergo about 5 more operations”. <br><br>
The severe attack also aroused response from the Jewish community and Christians all over the world, and from there they have anxiously and with great interest followed Ortizʼs rehabilitation and the progress of the investigation of the case. Ortizʼs father who immigrated to Israel from the U.S. is from a family of Puerto Rican origin, and is friends with the Jewish community in Puerto Rico who have followed the case, and turned to the family, requesting that the teenager lead the contingent in the opening ceremony of the Maccabiah Games. “We and Amiel were very excited by this exceptional turn of events”, Leah said yesterday.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305042009-05-04T07:00:00-06:002017-02-01T12:30:17-07:00CBN_May 4, 2009<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: CBN<br>
Type: TV and Online<br>
Date: May 4, 2009<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Section: World<br>
Title: Ami's Miracle: Thriving after Holiday Bomb<br>
Reporter: Chris Mitchell, CBN News Mideast Bureau Chief</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">Article Link: <a target="_new" href="http://blogs.cbn.com/jerusalemdateline/archive/2009/05/07/ami-ortiz-update-again.aspx">http://blogs.cbn.com/jerusalemdateline/archive/2009/05/07/ami-ortiz-update-again.aspx</a>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">Video Link: <a target="_new" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAtawUoAQbE">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAtawUoAQbE</a><br><br><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="https://www.youtube.com/v/UAtawUoAQbE&hl=en&fs=1">
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Ami's Miracle: Thriving after Holiday Bomb<br>
By Chris Mitchell<br>
CBN News Mideast Bureau Chief<br>
May 4, 2009<br><br>
CBNNews.com - ARIEL, Israel - One year ago, few people imagined that Ami Ortiz would one day be playing basketball or that his parents would be cheering him on.<br><br>
For months, Ami's ability to survive, much less walk, run and play basketball was in doubt.<br><br>
Click <a target="_new" href="http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/593709.aspx">the player</a> to watch the report from CBN News Mideast Bureau Chief Chris Mitchell.<br><br>
It was March of last year that his street - located in the community of Ariel - became a crime scene. A bomb exploded in a nearby apartment building. The blast was so strong, it shattered car windows three stories below.<br><br>
"[There] was this big, huge explosion. The air was shaking, and I thought, 'Oh my God, what's happening here,'" local resident "Marina" said.<br><br>
Purim Package Explodes<br><br>
What happened was a bomb, disguised as a Purim holiday package, exploded when then 15-year-old Ami Ortiz opened it. "Marina," who helped clean the Ortiz home, came running and found young Ami.<br><br>
"He was on the floor, full of blood. It was horrible," Marina said. "He called to Jesus. He said twice 'Jesus, Jesus.' And when I heard it, I said to myself 'okay, he's okay.'"<br><br>
Ami was alive -- but just barely.<br><br>
"To see the violence that was done to his body. How this bomb just mangled his body. It's very, very hard. And it's just a lot of pain, a lot of emotional pain to go through this with your child," said Ami's mother, Leah.<br><br>
Miraculously, Ami not only survived but began to heal at an amazing rate.<br><br>
His Wounds Healed Quickly<br><br>
"His wounds healed so quickly, it was deemed a miracle by the doctors. We've heard the word miracle many, many, many times. He wasn't able to see. He sees perfectly. He sees 20/20," Leah said.<br><br>
Ami's father, David, agrees.<br><br>
"God is the God of the impossible. How He is able to turn darkness into light in an instant," David said.<br><br>
Ami's story spread throughout Israel and the world. More than 4,000 cards and letters flooded into Ami and his family, even more e-mails. The Ortiz's say the worldwide support and prayers carried them through.<br><br>
"Without them, we wouldn't have been able to make it. I mean we were devastated. If it weren't for [the] prayers of the people and the people's support. People don't understand how powerful prayer is. It's been keeping my sound mind. I can close my eyes at night and not fear," David said.<br><br>
Facing the One-Year Anniversary<br><br>
But what was it like when they faced the one-year anniversary of the Purim bombing?<br><br>
"I think I was much more traumatized by Purim this year than he was," his mother said. "You'll see him. He went out and colored his hair orange for Purim. He wanted to go to school. He wanted to do all the parties at school," she said.<br><br>
And what does Ami say about the bombing one year later? Amazingly, he carries no bitterness.<br><br>
"I don't feel hate. I don't see a reason for it. I could say they're blinded by their hate. They think it's the right thing. You can't blame a blind person for running over you so I don't see [how I could blame them]. It's just not there. It wasn't there from the beginning. I don't even know how to explain it but it's just not there. No hate at all," Ami said.<br><br>
Asked of he had forgiven them, Ami replied without hesitation, "Yeah, I have."<br><br>
Yet, it's been a hard year of recovery.<br><br>
"There Has to be Forgiveness"<br><br>
"It was a shock. I didn't know what to do. Just to find out you're missing parts of your body. It's kind of hard," Ami said.<br><br>
Ami's case has attracted the attention of the U.S. and Canadian governments, as well as human rights groups.<br><br>
Majed El Shafie, founder of One Free World International, recently presented Israel's foreign ministry a <a target="_new" href="http://www.onefreeworldinternational.org/?q=justiceami090309">petition </a>with nearly 2,000 signatures he gathered in less than two weeks.<br><br>
It calls for "The Christian community is behind us and behind the family all around the world. And even the Israeli community, even the Jewish people - the people in the street," the petition states.<br><br>
El Shafie sees Ami's case as an attack on Israel's Messianic believers -- those Jews who believe in Yeshua (Jesus) as the Jewish Messiah. He's calling on Christians and Jews to speak up against the persecution.<br><br>
"Whoever is watching this program today you need to know that you cannot remain silent. You need to do your part. You need to sign the petition. You need to contact the Israeli embassy in your country. You need to tell them, the message is very clear. We love Israel. We will always support the Jewish people but justice needs to take place in Ami's case," El Shafie said.<br><br>
Case Still under Investigation<br><br>
A police spokesman says the case is still under investigation, but he would not elaborate on possible progress. While Ami's parents seek justice, they have chosen to forgive those who tried to kill their son.<br><br>
"Forgiveness has to be. It has to be. I'm convinced that Yeshua died for these people too. And even though they did what they did, God's love is great enough to forgive them," David said.<br><br>
"Forgiveness was a necessity for us. And it is true that if we can't forgive others then - I mean the Lord has done so much for us and so much to forgive us - then if we don't forgive others, He won't forgive us. It doesn't matter what the situation is. It has to be. It's a command of the Lord. Because of the great price that He went through, that He paid in order to forgive us," Leah said.<br><br>
They say Ami's story, which has been broadcast on Israel's national networks, has actually been used for good.<br><br>
"It's been a year of God just bringing up in media who Yeshua is and could Jewish people really accept the Lord and still remain Jewish. So the Gospel has been preached," David said.<br><br>
"I believe that's what the Lord meant to do through an extremely painful, painful situation is that [seeing] his [Ami's] face - people love him, in Israel, and they love him all over the world and it's through that that the Gospel is being preached," Leah said.<br><br>
In the meantime, Ami, now 16, takes part in his youth group, plays basketball and is growing into a young man.<br><br>
"This is a miracle. This is a miracle what happened that day. He's still alive," Marina said.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305052009-04-30T07:00:00-06:002009-04-30T07:00:00-06:00The Jerusalem Post, April 30, 2009Publication: The Jerusalem Post<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: April 30, 2009<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Section: Features/Front Lines/The Week That Was<br>
Title: Religious Affairs: Jesus's Zionists<br>
Reporter: Matthew Wagner<br>
Link: <a target="_new" href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1239710831191&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull">http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1239710831191&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull</a><br><br>
[Excerpt]
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But Messianic Jews' variety of religious Zionism is not always appreciated. In probably the most violent attack against a Messianic Jew that took place, Ami Ortiz, 15, a dual American-Israeli citizen and the son of a Messianic Jewish pastor, was seriously wounded when a bomb exploded in his home in Ariel on Purim (March 20) last year. The bomb was concealed in a gift basket placed on the doorstep.<br><br>
This is not an isolated incident. The US State Department's Annual Report on International Religious Freedom, released in September 2008, pointed to a marked rise in violence against Messianic Jews. Some of the incidents mentioned included a public burning of the New Testament in Or Yehuda in May 2008, and the fire-bombing of the Baptist church on Jerusalem's Rehov Narkiss, the meeting place of a Russian-language Messianic Jewish congregation.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/304692009-03-29T20:07:18-06:002009-03-29T20:07:18-06:00Israel Today_April 2009<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: Israel Today<br>
Type: Magazine<br>
Date: March 30, 2009<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Section: Messianic Jews<br>
Title: Still No Suspects in Bombing<br>
Reporter: Nicole Jansezian<br><br>
Ortiz Bombing Still Unsolved<br><br>
More than a year after Messianic Jew Amiel Ortiz was nearly killed by a bomb disguised in a Purim gift package, police have still made no arrests. But sources say the bombing may be one of a series of attacks carried out by Orthodox Jewish extremists.<br><br>
Police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld wouldn’t confirm or deny any connection between the Ortiz case and the bomb attack that wounded left-wing Professor Ze’ev Sternhell, an outspoken critic of Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria. But David Ortiz, Amiel’s father, told Israel Today that the investigation is pointing toward a religious group that will attack anyone opposed to its ideology.<br><br>
Amiel, now 16, was nearly killed on March 20, 2008 when he opened the booby-trapped Purim package. He was critically wounded and doctors told David and Leah Ortiz, leaders of the Ariel Messianic congregation, that their son wouldn’t make it. But a year later, Amiel has returned to the basketball court, albeit with much pain and a long road ahead to recovery. <br><br>
Amiel looked remarkably well when he was featured on Oovda (Fact), a primetime news magazine on Israel’s Channel 2 television. The reporter told David that what “disturbs” him the most is that “your son has forgiven these people. I could not forgive them. Why did your son forgive these criminals, these assassins?”<br><br>
Ortiz said the failure to solve the case is unacceptable.<br><br>
“It’s not what the police did, it’s what they didn’t do,” he said. “There has not been a word of condemnation from the Israeli government. With Sternhell, officials went to the hospital. With us, everybody hid.” <br><br>
The family recounts miracles and the outpouring of support from around the world. “I am filled with pain at the remembrance of that day,” Leah Ortiz wrote in her newsletter. “But we could never have imagined the worldwide impact this incident would have on believers around the world.”</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305012009-03-13T07:00:00-06:002009-03-13T07:00:00-06:00Jerusalem Institute of Justice_March 13, 2009Publication: Jerusalem Institute of Justice<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: March 13, 2009<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Section: N/A<br>
Title: Ortiz Bombing Still Unsolved<br>
Reporter: N/A<br>
Link: (coming soon)
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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Ortiz Bombing Still Unsolved<br><br>
Exactly almost one year ago, on March 20, 2008, 15-year-old Ami Ortiz stayed home from school. It was Purim – a Jewish festival in which holiday baskets are sent to friends and acquaintances to commemorate the Jews’ thwarting of Haman’s evil plot as recorded in the book of This basket was meant to killEsther in the Bible. To Ami’s delight, someone left a holiday package on the Ortiz family’s doorstep. When young Ami opened the package, it exploded in his face, filled his body with hundreds of pieces of shrapnel and left him in critical condition. Ami’s father, David, is a pastor of a Messianic community in the town of Ariel. Apparently, this was not an attempt to injure a fifteen year old boy, but rather an attempt to murder a minister of the gospel in Israel.<br><br>
A police investigation was opened after the bombing. However, the Israeli police have been extremely indifferent and apparently negligent in conducting the inquiry. The surveillance cameras which had been installed by the Ortiz family actually managed to film the person who delivered the package. They handed this recording over to the authorities; but to their dismay, no arrests have been made and the police have refused to return the tape to the Ortiz family. A year after the tape was confiscated by the police and after repeated refusals by the police to release their property, the family brought the matter to court. With Ami and his parents present, the judge ruled to return the tape to the Ortiz family.<br><br>
Last May, a day after a revealing expose on the issue was aired on Israeli television (Channel 1, "Yoman Shishi"), police contacted the Ortiz family asking them to resend many important documents pertaining to the investigation – the original copies had been lost. This proves that nothing had been done until the issue was brought to the media, two months after the actual event. Distinguished lawyers and representatives of pro-Israeli organizations have tried to bring this case before government officials. Promises have been made, but with no satisfactory results. It is suspected that a number of high-ranking officials and fundamentalist Rabbis in Israel are attempting to engage in a serious cover-up of the true situation.<br><br>
We are concerned that if this type of violence against Messianic believers in Israel goes unchecked by the prosecuting authorities, it can create a slippery slope of violence towards the community. Fliers, showing pictures of Messianic leaders and congregational members have been have been circulated in every major city and many smaller settlements in Israel. These fliers contain a message to the public to be aware of these missionaries who are trying to steal the souls of Jews, and who masquerade as Jews but are not Jews. Names and addresses have been published under the pictures, which is against the law. In Ariel, the fliers were posted in every bus stop from Tel Aviv to Ariel, a distance of 45 kilometers. We do not know if the perpetrators of the bombing in the Ortiz home were the ones who published these fliers, but at the very least, the fliers incited and helped them to identify the family and their address.<br><br>
It has been said that the test of a true democracy is the way it treats its smallest minority. We believe that legal status of the Messianic Jewish community is just a micro-cosmos of a much broader issue; namely, the treatment of non-orthodox Jewish citizens by the government of Israel. All citizens of Israel should be entitled to full and equal protection by law. When this is not the case, the very legitimacy of our state as the only democracy in the Middle East could be called into question. This would not be beneficial for the State of Israel, especially with the current winds of anti-Semitism blowing across the international arena.<br><br>
Please continue to uphold the Ortiz family in your prayers. Pray, too, for that the recent pressure to finally investigate will result in the arrest of the perpetrators. Pray for JIJ as they seek to uphold and protect the rights of Christians in Israel.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/304712009-03-02T06:00:00-07:002017-01-13T06:44:04-07:00Channel 2_Uvda Program_March 2, 2009TV Channel: Channel 2<br>Program: Uvda<br>Title: Bli Elohim (Without God)<br>Country: Israel<br>Date: March 2, 2009<br>Reporter: Ben Sheni<br>Running Time: 22:46 Minutes<br>Link: <a href="http://www.mako.co.il/tv-ilana_dayan/2009-ba6de11e0d2bf110/Article-6218270b6a8cf11004.htm" target="_new">http://www.mako.co.il/tv-ilana_dayan/2009-ba6de11e0d2bf110/Article-6218270b6a8cf11004.htm</a><br>Video link: <a href="http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=54709192">http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=54709192</a><br><br><a href="http://content.bandzoogle.com/users/amiortiz/files/AmiOrtiz.com_Uvdah-TV-Interview-Transcript.pdf"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/25847/536034ece76a3cf2bfde0d49e27c5ecee84e6d42/original/AmiOrtizUvdaTranscriptTnail.jpg?1377783039" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="281" width="216" /></a><br><a href="http://content.bandzoogle.com/users/amiortiz/files/AmiOrtiz.com_Uvdah-TV-Interview-Transcript.pdf">Download the Transcript in English (includes photos)</a><br> <div style="text-align: justify;">The Uvda television program in Israel interviews the man in charge of reviewing the Ortiz surveillance cameras set up outside their home in Ariel, Israel. They uncover facts about the terrorist who placed the Purim bomb at the door step of the Ortiz residents..he was wearing an IDF (Israeli Army) uniform.</div><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/25847/127e9518f2b6e5b782d30fc560b3941fb8b5ffe8/large/IDFUniformRevealed.jpg?1377783039" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" style="width: 410px; height: 313px;" /><br><br><br><a href="http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=54709192">Godless</a><br><object height="473" width="“533”<param" name="movie" value="http://rcs.mako.co.il/flash_swf/players/makoPlayer/VideoPlayer.swf?vcmid=c3a984a31d8cf110VgnVCM2000002a0c10acRCRD&videoChannelId=ba6de11e0d2bf110VgnVCM100000290c10acRCRD&galleryChannelId=6218270b6a8cf110VgnVCM100000290c10acRCRD&showlogo=-1"></object><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="473" src="http://rcs.mako.co.il/flash_swf/players/makoPlayer/VideoPlayer.swf?vcmid=c3a984a31d8cf110VgnVCM2000002a0c10acRCRD&videoChannelId=ba6de11e0d2bf110VgnVCM100000290c10acRCRD&galleryChannelId=6218270b6a8cf110VgnVCM100000290c10acRCRD&showlogo=-1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="632"></embed><br> <div style="text-align: justify;">UVDA_WEBSITE TALKBACKS (Viewer comments)<br><br>Which law exactly has been broken? A cult is something closed. Messianic Jews do not keep their faith a secret. Everything is open. Messianic Jews go through rejection and cursing and all because they are concerned that people should know the truth. Now, exactly which laws are being broken?<br><br>#47: I don’t understand what the problem is!!<br><br>And how much nonsense do we have in this world? People want to believe in something, so what’s the problem? To murder because of this? And you know what? So what if is this was some faith that summons things bad or unethical, but what’s the problem with Messianic Jews? That their main values are to help their fellow man and support one another? They don’t understand the idea of revenge? I am not a Messianic Jew but believe me if these were everyone’s values, not connected to faith, the world would be a better place.<br><br>בארץ הזאת כולם מדברים על מה שהם חושבים על כל נושא. החב"ד-ניקים תולים פוסטרים ומדברים ברחובות על ה"משיח" שלהם. זה אולי גם מיסון? הרי אם מותר לנו להאמין במה שרוצים, אז חייב גם להיות מותר לדבר על מה שמאמינים, לא?? למה עושים דמוניזציה של האנשים האלה? אני לא חושבת שהם חתפו מישהו או שטפו את המוח של מישהו. הם בודקים מה כתוב בתנ"ך והם היגיעו למסכנות אחרות מהרמב"ם. זה לא הופך אותם למפלצות, ולא מגיע להם פצצות בבית שלהם. אני מקוה כי המשטרה תעשה קצת יותר מאמץ למצוא את העבריין שעשה את זה, אחרת יהיו לנו עוד הרבה פצצות בבתים של אנשים כאן... לא מבינה 06/03/09 | 23:39<br><br>In this country every talks about what they think about every subject. The Chabadnikim hang posters and talk in the street about their “Messiah.” Maybe this is also missionary activity? Indeed, if it is permitted for us to believe in what we want, then it has to be permissible to talk about what we believe – no? Why demonize these people? I don’t think that they kidnapped someone or brainwashed someone. They check the writings of the Tanach, and they come to different conclusions than the Rambam. This doesn’t turn them into monsters, and doesn’t make them deserve a bomb in their house. I hope that the police will make a little more effort to find the criminals that did this, otherwise they’ll have bombs in their houses. Or – we will have more bombs in the houses of people here.<br><br>Signed, I don’t understand<br><br>אם אחרי שנה המשטרה לא מצאה אפילו בן אדם אחד חשוד - סימן ברור שמותר להרוג או לנסות להרוג את היהודי שחושב אחרת . הרי ברור שמנסים להסתיר פה משהו. ... אחרת למה המשטרה לא נתנו את הצילומים חזרה למשפחה? או למה לא הראו את הצילומים בתוכנית הזאת של עובדה?? זה פשוט קשה מאד להבין שאם יהודי שחקר את הנבואות על המשיח בסוף היגיע למסכנה שישוע הוא המשיח אז פתאום מותר לנסות להרוג אותו ?!?!? זה גרוע מאד.<br><br>#43: Is it permitted in the land of Israel to kill someone who thinks differently?<br><br>If after a year the police haven’t found even one suspicious person, it’s a clear sign that they are trying to hide something. Otherwise why didn’t the police give the camera footage back to the family? Or why didn’t they allow them to show the pictures on the Uvda program? It’s simply hard to understand why, if a person searches the prophecies about the Messiah, and comes to the conclusion that Yeshua is the Messiah, then suddenly it’s permitted to kill him? That’s very bad.<br><br>Signed, Batya<br><br>הרי זה ברור כשמש, יש כאן מניעים נסתרים, לא יכול להיות שאפילו לא נחקר אף חשוד! המשטרה איננה מעוניינת להגיע לחקר האמת מהפחד של התוצאות, מהחשש להתעמת עם הממסד הדתי, מהשסע שיגרם כתוצאה מההוכחה שמחבל יהודי ניסה לרצוח יהודי. יש כאן הוראה שמגיעה מלמעלה לא לחקור את האירוע. הרי לא יכול להיות שיש צילומי אבטחה ועם הטכנולוגיה של היום לא מצליחים לזהות שום פרט שייתן קצה חוט, שלא חוקרים אף אחד באריאל... ממש כמו בימים השחורים של האנושות. ואם כבר המשטרה לא מצליחה, היא הייתה צריכה לפרסם את צילומי האבטחה בטלוויזיה, בטוח משהוא היה מזהה את החשוד ומוביל לתפיסתו!<br><br>The police are trying to bury the matter in order to prevent a blow up<br><br>Indeed, this is a clear as the sun. There are hidden motives here. It can’t be that there hasn’t been even one suspect interrogated! The police are not interested in carrying out a true investigation for fear of the results, from the concern that they will have a confrontation with the religious establishment, from the split that will be caused as a result of the proof that a Jewish terrorist tried to murder a Jew. There is some instruction from above not to investigate the event. Indeed, it can’t be that there are security pictures and with today’s technology they can’t identify any detail that will give them a lead, that they haven’t interrogated anyone in Ariel - exactly like in the dark ages of humanity. And if the police already haven’t succeeded, then they need to broadcast the security pictures on television. Surely someone would recognize the suspect and lead to his capture.<br><br>Signed – a soldier<br><br>למה כאשר יהודי משיחי מדבר על מה שהוא מאמין אז זה נקרא מיסיון. המילה הזאת באה לעשות דמוניזציה, כי זה מזכיר את המיסיון נגד היהודים של פעם, אז העבירו יהודים מיהדות לנצרות בכח ובאיומים. אבל היהודים המשיחיים בארץ ממש לא עושים דבר כזה. אני מכירה משפחה כזאת והם לא דוחפים את האמונה שלהם. הם לא שוטפים את המוח לאף אחד. אבל לדעתי יש להם זכות דיבור כמו כל בן אדם אחר, לא? או שאולי צריכים פשוט לסתום להם את הפה עם משהו - פצצות למשל? ממש מפחיד * לא ברור לי<br><br>Why demonize?<br><br>How come when a Messianic Jew speaks about what he believes, then it’s called missionizing? That word brings demonization, because it reminds us of the mission against the Jews long ago, that converted Jews to Christianity by force and threats. But the Messianic Jews in the land really do not do that. We know a family of Messianic Jews and they do not push their faith. They don’t brainwash anyone, but in my opinion they have the right of free speech like anyone – no? Or maybe we should simply shut their mouths – with a bomb for instance? Very frightening.<br><br>Signed: It’s not clear to me<br><br>היהודים המשיחיים לא מנסים לגרום לאחרים להמיר את דתם. הם מציגים את האמונה שלהם אמנם, אבל אנחנו חשופים להרבה אמונות אחרות באותה מידה. יש אנשים שבוחרים ללכת בדררך זאת,כי הם מאמינים שזו הדרך הנכונה להם, אבל מניסיון, המשיחיים לא עושים את מה שהם עושים [התרומה למדינה] בתנאי להמרת הדת, אלא מתוך נאמנות ואהבה אמיתית למדינה..!<br><br>It’s not right<br><br>The Messianic Jews don’t try to cause others to exchange their religion. They present their faith it is true, but we are exposed to many faiths to the same extent. There are some people that choose to walk in that way, because they believe that it’s the right way for them, but from experience, the Messianics don’t do what they do (contribute to the country) with the condition of converting others religion, but from faithfulness and true love for the country.<br><br>No name signed<br><br>לא לכעוס ולשנוא את מי שעשה לו את זה? לחזור לשחק כדורסל שנים לפני כל צפי סביר? לא לבקש נקמה? לרחם על מי ששונא אותם? עם אלוהים! בלעדיו זה לא אפשרי!<br><br>Why without? (God) – With! To have mercy on those who hate them? Not to ask for revenge? To go back to playing basketball years before every reasonable expectation? Not to be angry or hate the ones that did this? With God! Without Him this would be impossible.<br><br>Signed: Shachar</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305022009-02-12T06:00:00-07:002009-02-12T06:00:00-07:00The Jerusalem Post_February 12, 2009Publication: The Jerusalem Post<br>
Type: Magazine<br>
Date: February 12, 2009<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Section: Features<br>
Title: Jesus for Jews<br>
Reporter: Larry Derfner<br>
Link: <a target="_new" href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?apage=1&cid=1233304759140&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull">http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?apage=1&cid=1233304759140 pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull</a><br><br><div style="text-align: justify;">[Excerpt]<br><br>
And on March 20, following a pashkovilim campaign against Messianic Jewish pastor David Ortiz in Ariel, his 15-year-old son Ami was badly injured when a pipe bomb hidden in a "Purim basket" and left at the family's doorstep exploded.<br><br>
No one has ever been brought to trial for any serious act of violence against Messianic Jews, and Yad L'achim strenuously denies any involvement in such crimes. When I told Lifschitz that the Kiryat Yam congregation suspected that Yad L'achim was behind the 1997 firebombing of its warehouse, he replied, "They're lying, it's all lies. For all I know, maybe there was a fire there, but that doesn't mean we started it. Maybe they started it themselves so they could blame it on us."<br><br>
The bomb that put Ami Ortiz in the hospital, though, is the most grievous attack on the Messianic community ever. Police investigators were quoted in the media saying they suspect it was done by the same people who left a pipe bomb on the doorstep of leftist Prof. Ze'ev Sternhell last September, and, over the last two years, on the doorsteps of three Arab activists.<br><br>
Myers, whose car was twice spraypainted by unknown vandals not long before our interview, said he doubted that Yad L'achim was behind the Ami Ortiz attack. "They incite, they foster the atmosphere that leads others to do such things, but they themselves don't go in for such heavy-duty violence."</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/304882008-11-18T06:00:00-07:002008-11-18T06:00:00-07:00ChristianPersecution.info_November 18, 2008Publication: ChristianPersecution.info<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: November 18, 2008<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Section: News<br>
Title: Messianic Jews Still Awaiting Justice<br>
Reporter: George Whitten<br>
Link: <a target="_new" href="http://www.christianpersecution.info/news/messianic-jews-still-awaiting-justice-17104/">http://www.christianpersecution.info/news/messianic-jews-still-awaiting-justice-17104/</a>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br>
Messianic Jews Still Awaiting Justice<br><br>
Ariel, Israel (Worthy News) -- It has been nearly eight months since 15-year-old Ami Ortiz was almost killed by an explosion while opening an innocent looking Purim basket on March 20th, however no arrests have been made despite the fact that the Ariel police have months of surveillance tapes and a considerable amount of evidence in their possession. (Photo to right: Area in the Ortiz family home where bomb filled with metal shards exploded forward into the dining room table and backward, ripping into the full length of Ami's body. He was found on the kitchen floor in a pool of blood.)<br><br>
The Ortiz family continues to seek justice in view of the massive injuries they've sustained, but also in the hope of preventing tragedies like this in the future. Pursuing every avenue, the Ortiz family, along with believers from around the world have written numerous letters and contacted some of the highest ranking officials in the Israeli government seeking help, yet while having received acknowledgment of their letters, no action has been taken.<br><br>
The Ortiz' criminal lawyer, Yossi Graiver, when asked by Worthy News to update the case, responded saying, "There's nothing happening yet." Questioned about the strategy the legal team is pursuing, he said, "We will continue to cooperate with the police, and different ministries involved, trying to create more pressure" in order to see a breakthrough in the case.<br><br>
Last June, the family's story was broadcast on Israeli Channel 1 during Prime Time on a show called Yoman Shishi. Prior to the program date, Channel 1 battled two separate police injunctions in Israeli courts aimed at preventing the broadcast from being aired.<br><br>
In addition, a television program called "Uvda" ("Fact" in Hebrew), similar to America's "60 Minutes", is preparing to run an episode covering the case within the next few months. As investigators continue to gather evidence, it is apparent to those involved that this was no ordinary bomb -- but rather a device created by an explosives expert. This carefully designed explosive package has been designated a "stable bomb", meaning that it had to be detonated in a precise manner, and it's construction required components which are not available on the open market.<br><br>
As investigators continue to pursue leads in the case, there is some evidence that may connect the Ortiz bombing to another bombing that targeted left wing activist, Prof. Ze'ev Sternhell, which took place in October. In both of these acts of terror, no arrests have been made, and many in Israel are wondering why, especially in light of Israeli expertise in discovering and ferreting out Arab terror cells.<br><br>
Meanwhile, Ami has been recovering steadily. Worthy News, having reviewed the photos and the physical evidence of destruction, concluded that Ami's recovery is not simply amazing -- it is unquestionably miraculous! Shortly after the horrendous event took place, Ami described his pain level on a scale of 1 to 10, as, consistently between 8 and 9. Now eight months later, having undergone multiple operations, the level of consistent pain has considerably lowered to around 3 or 4.<br><br>
Ami continues to struggle daily, as his mother Leah commented, "Everything for him is a procedure, from taking a shower, to getting out and having to put special creams on his scars, to the pressure suit, and just getting dressed is painful for him. He has longer and longer periods of being able to joke his way through all the procedures, but sometimes it gets him down, which is understandable." Although recently, Ami has begun to practice and play basketball again! He's even played in a few games. There's still a long road ahead of him, including several operations and some skin grafts, yet each and every day those closest to him notice the real progress this brave young man is making. (Photo to left: Ortiz Family)<br><br>
As you may imagine, for any young man whose life has been radically changed by circumstances beyond his control, Ami struggles from time to time. But when asked by Worthy News, whether or not he feels resentment or anger toward those who tried to kill him, he showed no trace of bitterness or anger -- an amazing testimony of the faith and grace in this young believer. His father David commented further, stating that Ami's response of complete forgiveness toward those who succeeded to drastically harm him has, and continues to be an amazing testimony to the television crews, and the program staffers reporting on his case.<br><br>
Since this tragedy, the Ortiz family has received thousands of letters of encouragement from people from all over the world as they continue their work in the city of Ariel. And while many expected the family to abandon the city, they have not only stayed, but continue to press forward, despite the many obstacles which continually besiege them. The family's faith and perseverance has been a powerful example to the Body. (Photo to right: Posters warning Ariel's citizens to beware of the Messianic Jewish cult which is intent on converting all Jews to Christianity. The posters incite ultra-Orthodox Jews to violence.)<br><br>
A few weeks after the bombing, New York Times best selling author Joel Rosenberg hosted his Epicenter 08 conference in Jerusalem, and he invited David Ortiz to share about his family's ordeal. To this day, it is the most frequently viewed video on the Epicenter 08 website.<br><br>
One blessing clearly emerging from this tragedy is how the body of Messiah has unified in support, embracing Ami and the entire Ortiz family. Many believers have commented that this single event has worked to unify the body in Israel like none other. And again, the invincible faith and commitment of the Ortiz family are a shining example of how we must all face persecution whenever it may come.<br><br>
Please consider sending a letter expressing your concern in this matter. You can direct your emails to:<br><br>
Avi Dicter, Minister of Public Security -- adichter [at] gov.co.il<br>
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Office -- pm_eng [at] pmo.gov.il<br>
Ministry of Foreign Affairs -- sar [at] mofa.gov.il</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/304852008-11-14T06:00:00-07:002008-11-14T06:00:00-07:00CBN_November 14, 2008Publication: CBN<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: November 14, 2008<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Section: Jerusalem Dateline<br>
Title: Update on Ami Ortiz<br>
Reporter: Chris Mitchell, CBN News Middle East Bureau Chief <br>
Link: <a target="_new" href="http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/482090.aspx">http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/482090.aspx</a>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br>
Update on Ami Ortiz<br><br>
Many of you remember Ami Ortiz. Ami is the son of David and Leah Ortiz who pastor a congregation in Ariel here in Israel. Earlier this year, on March 20th, Ami opened up a holiday package during the feast of Purim. The gift disguised a sophisticated bomb. The explosion tore through Ami's body and nearly killed him. Miraculously, Ami survived and now nearly eight months later, Ami and his parents continue to put their life together. The following is an update from Leah Ortiz. As you can see, they are experiencing the highs and lows on this road to recovery. They have made tremendous strides but still need prayers and support. <br><br>
"Ami played his first basketball game last Sunday. He played for one and a half quarters and made 3 points!! He said, "Oh, I wasn't really playing", meaning, it wasn't like before. Thursday and Friday were rough days for him emotionally - he felt he didn't have the strength to go on. He's mourning what he calls, the loss of his teenage years. It's hard for him to see his left foot in the shape that it's in, and honestly, it's hard for me also. Everything for him is a procedure, from taking a shower, to getting out and having to put special creams on his scars, to the pressure suit, and just getting dressed is painful for him. He has longer and longer periods of being able to joke his way through all the procedures, but sometimes it gets him down, which is understandable.<br><br>
Yesterday, we went for therapy in the rehab hospital, and the occupational therapist said that she was amazed by the movement he has in his left hand's fingers that he didn't have before. Ami is very nonchalant about all this, but last week when he screwed the cap back onto a bottle with his left hand, I felt like doing cartwheels!!<br><br>
Tonight he had another game, to which I was also barred :-). He came back happy, his team won by 20 points. He said he only made 4 points, but his defense was awesome!! Not many 15 year olds have the height that he has - 6'3" (1 meter 93 cm's), and you can imagine how scary it might be with Ami all over you as you try to pass the ball - formidable!!<br><br>
School is coming along well, considering that he misses many days due to therapy and doctor's appointments. This Wednesday we'll have a meeting with his homeroom teacher, the principal, and guidance counselors, to discuss Math which is very difficult for Ami. He does have learning disabilities, and they are actually considering relieving him of Math and replacing it with Biology. The math that he's learning now is difficult, I personally can't make heads or tails out of it, and I know that in my day (1,000 years ago) we didn't learn that level of math in high school,( which means nothing as it's a whole new world now). Ami also did an extensive test this past month to determine what kind of help he is entitled to, and where he is at this point with the LD's. I see Ami much more motivated in his studies than ever before, and I am very grateful for the understanding and care the teaching staff has demonstrated.<br><br>
This Thursday we will have an appointment with the orthopedic surgeon who will advise us concerning surgery on Ami's left foot ... We've had many visitors from around the world, coming fairly regularly. David pointed out something to me which is true. The Bible recounts in John 12:<br><br>
v2 Here a dinner was given in Jesus' honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. v9 Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.<br><br>
Many are coming to see Ami who indeed, came back to us from the dead. I'm reminded of Hebrews 11:<br><br>
17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 of whom it was said, "In Isaac your seed shall be called," 19 concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.<br><br>
This is God's mercy. The miracle of life and healing in Ami is incredible to behold. The miracles are continuing daily, and I believe that many believers are visiting because they want to be encouraged by seeing how the Lord has so mightily answered their prayers, for you have indeed labored in prayer for our son.<br><br>
We never cease to be grateful. When people tell David and myself that it's wonderful that we still have a sense of humor and seem to have survived so well, we always say, "When the whole world has been praying for you - it's no wonder that we've been able to stand and keep on going forward!" <br><br>
You might be wondering if those responsible have been apprehended. Even though it's been almost eight months since this attempted murder, the police have made no arrests. While the Ortiz family and Ami himself have forgiven those responsible, they also pray those responsible will be brought to justice so no one else will go through this kind of crucible.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305602008-11-08T06:00:00-07:002017-01-13T06:44:09-07:00Assist News Service l November 8, 2008<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: Assist News Service (ANS)<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: November 8, 2010<br>
Country: USA<br>
Title: Ami Ortiz: Where’s the Justice?<br>
Section: Stories<br>
Reporter: George Whitten<br>
Online: <a target="_new" href="http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2008/s08110095.htm">link</a><br><br>
Ami Ortiz: Where’s the Justice?<br><br>
ARIEL, ISRAEL (ANS) -- It has been nearly eight months since 15-year-old Ami Ortiz was almost killed by an explosion while opening an innocent looking Purim basket on March 20th, 2008. However no arrests have been made despite the fact that the Ariel police have months of surveillance tapes and a considerable amount of evidence in their possession.<br><br>
The Ortiz family continues to seek justice in view of the massive injuries they've sustained, but also in the hope of preventing tragedies like this in the future. Pursuing every avenue, the Ortiz family, along with believers from around the world have written numerous letters and contacted some of the highest ranking officials in the Israeli government seeking help, yet while having received acknowledgment of their letters, no action has been taken.<br><br>
The Ortiz' criminal lawyer, Yossi Graiver, when asked to update the case, responded saying, “There's nothing happening yet.” Questioned about the strategy the legal team is pursuing, he said, “We will continue to cooperate with the police, and different ministries involved, trying to create more pressure” in order to see a breakthrough in the case.<br><br>
Last June, the family's story was broadcast on Israeli Channel 1 during Prime Time on a show called Yoman Shishi. Prior to the program date, Channel 1 battled two separate police injunctions in Israeli courts aimed at preventing the broadcast from being aired. <br><br>
In addition, a television program called “Uvda” (“Fact” in Hebrew), similar to America's “60 Minutes”, is preparing to run an episode covering the case within the next few months. As investigators continue to gather evidence, it is apparent to those involved that this was no ordinary bomb -- but rather a device created by an explosives expert. This carefully designed explosive package has been designated a “stable bomb”, meaning that it had to be detonated in a precise manner, and it's construction required components which are not available on the open market.<br><br>
As investigators continue to pursue leads in the case, there is some evidence that may connect the Ortiz bombing to another bombing that targeted left wing activist, Prof. Ze'ev Sternhell, which took place in October. In both of these acts of terror, no arrests have been made, and many in Israel are wondering why, especially in light of Israeli expertise in discovering and ferreting out Arab terror cells.<br><br>
Meanwhile, Ami has been recovering steadily. Worthy News, having reviewed the photos and the physical evidence of destruction, concluded that Ami's recovery is not simply amazing -- it is unquestionably miraculous! Shortly after the horrendous event took place, Ami described his pain level on a scale of 1 to 10, as, consistently between 8 and 9. Now eight months later, having undergone multiple operations, the level of consistent pain has considerably lowered to around 3 or 4.<br><br>
Ami continues to struggle daily, as his mother Leah commented, “Everything for him is a procedure, from taking a shower, to getting out and having to put special creams on his scars, to the pressure suit, and just getting dressed is painful for him. He has longer and longer periods of being able to joke his way through all the procedures, but sometimes it gets him down, which is understandable.” Although recently, Ami has begun to practice and play basketball again! He's even played in a few games. There's still a long road ahead of him, including several operations and some skin grafts, yet each and every day those closest to him notice the real progress this brave young man is making. <br><br>
As you may imagine, for any young man whose life has been radically changed by circumstances beyond his control, Ami struggles from time to time. But when asked by Worthy News, whether or not he feels resentment or anger toward those who tried to kill him, he showed no trace of bitterness or anger -- an amazing testimony of the faith and grace in this young believer. His father David commented further, stating that Ami's response of complete forgiveness toward those who succeeded to drastically harm him has, and continues to be an amazing testimony to the television crews, and the program staffers reporting on his case.<br><br>
Since this tragedy, the Ortiz family has received thousands of letters of encouragement from people from all over the world as they continue their work in the city of Ariel. And while many expected the family to abandon the city, they have not only stayed, but continue to press forward, despite the many obstacles which continually besiege them. The family's faith and perseverance has been a powerful example to the Body.<br><br>
A few weeks after the bombing, New York Times best selling author Joel Rosenberg hosted his Epicenter 08 conference in Jerusalem, and he invited David Ortiz to share about his family's ordeal. To this day, it is the most frequently viewed video on the Epicenter 08 website.<br><br>
One blessing clearly emerging from this tragedy is how the body of Messiah has unified in support, embracing Ami and the entire Ortiz family. Many believers have commented that this single event has worked to unify the body in Israel like none other. And again, the invincible faith and commitment of the Ortiz family are a shining example of how we must all face persecution whenever it may come.<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/25847/770e76c371b9fe82e0f5b720f2d533c7c1fd0150/original/explosion_ariel.jpg?1377783041" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="314" width="227" /><br><br>
Area in the Ortiz family home where bomb filled with metal shards exploded forward into the dining room table and backward, ripping into the full length of Ami's body. He was found on the kitchen floor in a pool of blood<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/25847/3cf2e54c59f18a0f53a35757fd0124ce5e69bd66/original/poster_in_ariel.jpg?1377783041" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="314" width="221" /><br><br>
Posters warning Ariel's citizens to beware of the Messianic Jewish cult which is intent on converting all Jews to Christianity. The posters incite ultra-Orthodox Jews to violence</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/304972008-09-21T07:00:00-06:002008-09-21T07:00:00-06:00US Department of State_September 21, 2008<div style="text-align: left;">Publication: US Department of State<br>
Type: International Religious Freedom Report 2008<br>
Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor<br>
Date: September 21, 2008<br>
Country: USASection: Israel and Occupied Territories<br>
Title: Included in Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination <br>
Reporter: N/A<br>
Link: <a href="http://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2008/108484.htm" target="_new">http://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2008/108484.htm</a>
</div>
<br>
[Excerpt]<br><br><div style="text-align: justify;">On March 20, 2008, 15-year-old Ami Ortiz--a dual American-Israeli citizen and the son of a Messianic Jewish pastor--was seriously injured when a bomb exploded in his home in the West Bank settlement of Ariel. (see Annex on the Occupied Territories for further details).</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/304912008-06-26T07:00:00-06:002008-06-26T07:00:00-06:00CBN_June 26, 2008Publication: CBN<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: June 26, 2008<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Section: Jerusalem Dateline<br>
Title: Update on the Case of Ami Ortiz<br>
Reporter: Chris Mitchell, CBN News Middle East Bureau Chief<br>
Link: <a target="_new" href="http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/399397.aspx">http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/399397.aspx</a>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br>
The case of 15-year-old Ami Ortiz, critically injured in March by a bomb concealed in a holiday gift package, continues to draw attention here in Israel.<br><br>
In one of the latest developments, Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, met with Israeli Minister of Internal Security Avi Dichter about the investigation.<br><br>
Dichter assured Sekulow that he was personally overseeing the case, while Sekulow conveyed the message that U.S. senators and congressman are deeply concerned that the perpetrators be brought to justice.<br><br>
The Associated Press ran a story on Ami's case and the wider plight of Messianic Jews within Israel, which hit the wires worldwide.<br><br>
Here in Israel, Channel 1's story brought Ami's plight into Israeli homes. Here are two links to the story, which include English subtitles: PART I / PART II<br><br>
Meanwhile, a group of American Messianic believers meeting in Israel this week plan to speak out on these issues.<br><br>
Today's today's Jerusalem Post featured an article about them.<br><br>
Finally, below are a couple of excerpts from the latest updates and prayer requests from Ami's parents, David and Leah Ortiz:<br><br>
June 19 update:<br>
First, we want to say thank you for your love, constant prayers for us and the body of Messiah in Israel, your encouragements, and your support behind us as one family. One thing that we are continually seeing through this ordeal is the unification of the Body in a new way. The postcards and e-mails are still coming in; literally from all around the world. The Lord has been keeping us by His grace and through the prayers of the faithful. We are still praying that the Lord would intervene and bring healing to Ami's arm before the operation, which is set for one week from today [June 26].<br><br>
June 20 Update:<br>
This week has flown by, but with Ami experiencing more and more pain in his left arm and hand, and now electric "shocks" in one of the toes that was partially amputated by the bomb and sometimes throughout his whole body. I have to say it has been a bit discouraging, as we know the whole world is praying, and you are all praying so diligently. I've been wondering, where are you Lord?? Where are you in this, and why are you letting Ami suffer and seemingly get worse even. A brother just sent me something as I sat down to write this update and it is the answer. It is too long to include it all, but here are a few excerpts.<br><br>
A long time ago, a precious older saint said something to me that has never left me. It has become like a permanent message pinned on the notice-board of my mind. This is what she said:<br><br>
'When God wants to do something great, He starts with something difficult; when He wants to do something very wonderful, He starts with something impossible!'<br><br>
Over and over again in my own life, I can testify to the truth of these words. However, more recently I have found that all these occurrences were dress rehearsals for a situation I am now facing. Just as David had his dress rehearsals killing the lion and the bear in order to prepare his heart to face Goliath, so too the Father takes us through training sessions; smaller battles that build our faith and knowledge of His character so that we may not only stand but triumph in the day we face our Goliath.<br><br>
Then she begins to recount the story of Lazarus, Mary and Martha -- how they had seen the Lord heal and had a close relationship with Him, yet their eyes scanned the horizon as their brother became more and more ill, and He didn't seem to arrive ... or care.<br><br>
'Hope deferred makes the heart sick', the Word tells us and as the reality of the situation before their eyes became more and more hopeless, confusion was replaced by anger and somewhere inbetween these two raging emotions, faith was desperately trying to keep its head above the stormy waters.<br><br>
This is exactly where we have been this week. However, what happened after Lazarus even died was the greatest miracle of all, resurrection from the dead, and God being glorified. And so we simply need to keep on trusting, no matter how difficult, painful, and confusing. We have no choice but to trust Him. I have to say that the medical staff are wonderful and compassionate people who have been trying to do their utmost to help Ami and relieve his symptoms.<br><br>
Please pray for these developments and for Ami's surgery on June 26th.<br><br>
Ami has five siblings who are a blessing to him and who are dedicated to supporting him during this time. My oldest is a daughter, who is married and has a four month old baby. She comes to the hospital several times a week and brings home cooked food to Ami, even though she teaches, has a small baby, and her husband comes also even though he works very hard and is exhausted at the end of the day.<br><br>
The next four are boys -- and I would ask for prayer for all as we are all coming to terms with this tragedy. There have been varied responses from all, and as far as the faith is concerned as well. If you could keep Chen, 29, her husband Nissim, baby Rani, Aaron, 27, Ariel, 24, Natan, 21, and Elad, 19, in your prayers as well, we would appreciate it greatly.<br><br>
David has been taking on the burden of the investigation and the numerous meetings with lawyers, meetings with other believers and congregational leaders in the land, sharing information, providing evidence to various legal entities, etc., etc. He needs much prayer.<br><br>
Please pray for strength for myself, Leah, as well as I haven't been feeling too well these days and I am exhausted. I suffer from MS, and the enemy is trying to aggravate the symptoms -- whom I rebuke in the mighty name of Yeshua [Jesus].<br><br>
Thank you for everything -- heaven will tell the whole story, and we will be able to rejoice together one day!</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305262008-06-21T07:00:00-06:002008-06-21T07:00:00-06:00Fox News l June 21, 2008<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: Fox News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: June 1, 2008<br>
Country: USA<br>
Section: World<br>
Title: Messianic Jews Complain of Persecution in Israel<br>
Article: <a target="_new" href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,369863,00.html">link</a><br><br>
ARTICLE<br><br>
Messianic Jews Complain of Persecution in Israel<br><br>
Saturday, June 21, 2008<br><br>
TEL AVIV, Israel — Safety pins and screws are still lodged in 15-year-old Ami Ortiz's body three months after he opened a booby-trapped gift basket sent to his family. The explosion severed two toes, damaged his hearing and harmed a promising basketball career.<br><br>
Police say they are still searching for the assailants. But to the Ortiz family the motive of the attackers is clear: The Ortizes are Jews who believe that Jesus was the Messiah.<br><br>
Israel's tiny community of Messianic Jews, a mixed group of 10,000 people who include the California-based Jews for Jesus, complains of threats, harassment and police indifference.<br><br>
The March 20 bombing was the worst incident so far. In October, a mysterious fire damaged a Jerusalem church used by Messianic Jews, and last month ultra-Orthodox Jews torched a stack of Christian holy books distributed by missionaries.<br><br>
Israel's Foreign Ministry and two chief rabbis were quick to condemn the burning, but the Ortiz family says vigorous police action is needed.<br><br>
"I believe that it will happen again, if not to us, then to other Messianic believers," said Ami's mother, Leah Ortiz, a 54-year-old native of South Orange, N.J.<br><br>
Proselytizing is strongly discouraged in Israel, a state that was established for a people that suffered centuries of persecution for not accepting Jesus and has little tolerance for missionary work.<br><br>
At the same time, Israel has warm relations with U.S. evangelical groups, which strongly support its cause, but these generally refrain from proselytizing inside Israel. Even the Mormon church, which has mission work at its core worldwide, agreed when it opened a campus in Jerusalem to refrain from missionary activity.<br><br>
"Historically the core of Christianity ... was 'convert or die,' so it was seen and is still seen as an assault on Jewish existence itself," said Rabbi David Rosen, who oversees interfaith affairs for the American Jewish Committee. "When you are called to join another religion, you are being called on to betray your people."<br><br>
Messianic Jews consider themselves Jewish, observing the holy days and reciting many of the same prayers. The Ortiz family lights candles on the Jewish Sabbath, shuns pork and eats matzoth on Passover.<br><br>
Ami Ortiz, interviewed at the Tel Aviv hospital where he is being treated, comes across as no different from any Jewish Israeli his age. He's a sabra, or native-born Israeli, who speaks English with a Hebrew accent, has an older brother in an elite Israeli army unit and was hoping to join the youth squad of Maccabi Tel Aviv, a league-topping basketball team.<br><br>
But his religion also holds that one can embrace Jesus — Ami calls him by his Hebrew name, Yeshua — as the Messiah and remain Jewish. Orthodox Jews, on the other hand, believe that the Messiah has yet to come, that he will do so only when he chooses, and that any attempt to pre-empt his coming is a grievous sin.<br><br>
Rabbi Sholom Dov Lifschitz, head of the ultra-Orthodox Yad Leahim organization that campaigns against missionary activity in Israel, says Messianic Jews give him "great pain."<br><br>
"They are provoking ... it's a miracle that worse things don't happen," he said.<br><br>
Messianic activists appear to have had some success among couples with one non-Jewish spouse, as well as immigrants from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union who have loose ties to Judaism.<br><br>
Or Yehuda, a town in central Israel with many immigrants as well as ultra-Orthodox Jews including a deputy mayor, Uri Aharon, was the scene of the May 15 book-burning.<br><br>
Ami Dahan, a local police official, says hundreds of Christian religious books were burned on May 15 in an empty lot in town. He said Deputy Mayor Uzi Aharon, has been questioned on suspicion that he instructed youths to collect the books from homes where they had been distributed and told them to burn them.<br><br>
Aharon denies ordering the burning. He says the books were collected from a neighborhood of mostly Ethiopian immigrants who are easily persuaded by missionaries.<br><br>
"There are three missionaries who live and work in the town, and every Saturday they take people to worship and try to brainwash them," Aharon said.<br><br>
Many Messianic Jews say they recognize the sensitivities involved and do not distribute religious material or conduct high-profile campaigns. But Aharon noted a recent "Jews for Jesus" campaign with signs on buses that equated two similar Hebrew words — "Jesus" and "salvation." Public outrage quickly forced the bus company to remove the signs.<br><br>
Lawyer Dan Yakir of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel says the law allows missionaries to preach provided they don't offer gifts or money or go after minors.<br><br>
"It is their right according to freedom of religion to maintain their religious lifestyle and disseminate their beliefs, including through literature," he said.<br><br>
But the obstacles are evident, raised not just from religious activists but by the state.<br><br>
Calev Myers, a lawyer who represents Messianic Jews, said he has fought 200 legal cases in the past two years. Most involve authorities' attempts to close down houses of worship, revoke the citizenship of believers or refuse to register their children as Israelis. In one case, Israel has accused a German religion student of missionary activity and has tried — so far unsuccessfully — to deport her.<br><br>
In incidents of violence, police are reluctant to press charges, Myers said.<br><br>
The book-burning caused shock among U.S. evangelicals.<br><br>
Dave Parsons, spokesman of the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, which represents evangelical Christian communities, said the test would be how vigorously authorities pursued the case.<br><br>
"We believe there is a link to a series of incidents here in the land that involve harassment, intimidation and physical violence," he said.<br><br>
The Ortiz family moved from the United States to Israel in 1985, qualifying as immigrants under Israel's Law of Return because Leah, the mother, is Jewish. In 1989 they moved into Ariel, a Jewish settlement in the West Bank, and established a small Messianic group which now numbers 60, most of them immigrants from the former Soviet Union, according to David Ortiz, the pastor and Ami's father.<br><br>
He said that he built the community through conversations with friends and neighbors, but did not actually go door-to-door distributing religious material to strangers in the traditional sense of missionary work. David Ortiz says he has also proselytized in the Palestinian areas — prompting Islamic leaders there to warn against contact with him. Ortiz said he had "no problem" if Messianic Jews discuss their religious views with others and persuade them to believe in Jesus.<br><br>
When the family began holding study sessions, a rabbi warned Ortiz not to speak about Jesus outside the home.<br><br>
In 2005, fliers were distributed in Ariel warning that there were believers of Jesus in the community. One day, two men wearing the black skullcaps of Orthodox Jews knocked on the door and photographed Ortiz when he answered. Recently the photo turned up on a flier with the family's address.<br><br>
When the basket was left at the door Ami wasn't surprised, since it was Purim, a holiday when Jews exchange gifts.<br><br>
"I opened it up and I heard it and then I was on the floor and I didn't hear anything, I didn't see anything," the lanky boy recalls.<br><br>
Ami was in critical condition, with severe gashes in his legs and feet and one that just missed his jugular vein. His tryout for the Maccabi team was canceled.<br><br>
His family initially suspected Palestinians; Ariel is in the heart of the West Bank and surrounded by Palestinian towns and villages and, like most Jewish settlements, has been the target of Palestinian attacks. But police immediately told him the bomb was more sophisticated than those made by Palestinians since it contained plastic explosives.<br><br>
"Nobody ever suspected that a Jewish group would do such a thing, that they would put a bomb in somebody else's house," David Ortiz said.<br><br>
Police have since told the family that Palestinians were not behind the bombing. The family has footage from a security camera of a man delivering the package, according to a person close to the family who spoke on condition of anonymity because police say disclosing details could harm the investigation.<br><br>
Police spokesman Danny Poleg would not discuss the case, saying only that no arrests have been made.<br><br>
Meanwhile, the Messianic Jewish believers are taking no chances. These days they worship under the protection of an armed guard.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/304752008-06-21T07:00:00-06:002008-06-21T07:00:00-06:00Associated Press_June 21, 2008<div style="text-align: left;">Publication: Associated Press<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: June 21, 2008<br>
Country: USA<br>
Section: N/A<br>
Title: Messianic Jews say they are persecuted in Israel<br>
Reporter: Laurie Copans, Associated Press Writer<br>
Link: <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25306012/from/ET/" target="_new">http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25306012/from/ET/</a><br>
Link: <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=5218129" target="_new">http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=5218129</a><br>
Link: <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-06-22-israel-missionaries_N.htm" target="_new">http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-06-22-israel-missionaries_N.htm</a><br>
Link: <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/29/MNEK11DBEC.DTL" target="_new">http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/29/MNEK11DBEC.DTL</a><br>
Link: <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080621/messianic-jews-say-they-are-persecuted-in-israel.htm" target="_new">http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080621/messianic-jews-say-they-are-persecuted-in-israel.htm</a><br>
Link: <a href="http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2008/06/21/1597892-messianic-jews-say-they-are-persecuted-in-israel" target="_new">http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2008/06/21/1597892-messianic-jews-say-they-are-persecuted-in-israel<br></a>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">Link: <a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/06/21/news/Israel-Missionaries.php?page=1" target="_new">http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/06/21/news/Israel-Missionaries.php?page=1</a><br><br>
TEL AVIV — Safety pins and screws are still lodged in 15-year-old Ami Ortiz's body three months after he opened a booby-trapped gift basket sent to his family. The explosion severed two toes, damaged his hearing and harmed a promising basketball career.<br><br>
Police say they are still searching for the assailants. But to the Ortiz family the motive of the attackers is clear: The Ortizes are Jews who believe that Jesus was the Messiah.<br><br>
Israel's tiny community of Messianic Jews, a mixed group of 10,000 people who include the California-based Jews for Jesus, complains of threats, harassment and police indifference.<br><br>
The March 20 bombing was the worst incident so far. In October, a mysterious fire damaged a Jerusalem church used by Messianic Jews, and last month ultra-Orthodox Jews torched a stack of Christian holy books distributed by missionaries.<br><br>
Israel's Foreign Ministry and two chief rabbis were quick to condemn the burning, but the Ortiz family says vigorous police action is needed.<br><br>
"I believe that it will happen again, if not to us, then to other Messianic believers," said Ami's mother, Leah Ortiz, a 54-year-old native of South Orange, N.J.<br><br>
Proselytizing is strongly discouraged in Israel, a state that was established for a people that suffered centuries of persecution for not accepting Jesus and has little tolerance for missionary work.<br><br>
At the same time, Israel has warm relations with U.S. evangelical groups, which strongly support its cause, but these generally refrain from proselytizing inside Israel. Even the Mormon church, which has mission work at its core worldwide, agreed when it opened a campus in Jerusalem to refrain from missionary activity.<br><br>
"Historically the core of Christianity ... was 'convert or die,' so it was seen and is still seen as an assault on Jewish existence itself," said Rabbi David Rosen, who oversees interfaith affairs for the American Jewish Committee. "When you are called to join another religion, you are being called on to betray your people."<br><br>
Messianic Jews consider themselves Jewish, observing the holy days and reciting many of the same prayers. The Ortiz family lights candles on the Jewish Sabbath, shuns pork and eats matzoth on Passover.<br><br>
Ami Ortiz, interviewed at the Tel Aviv hospital where he is being treated, comes across as no different from any Jewish Israeli his age. He's a sabra, or native-born Israeli, who speaks English with a Hebrew accent, has an older brother in an elite Israeli army unit and was hoping to join the youth squad of Maccabi Tel Aviv, a league-topping basketball team.<br><br>
But his religion also holds that one can embrace Jesus — Ami calls him by his Hebrew name, Yeshua — as the Messiah and remain Jewish. Orthodox Jews, on the other hand, believe that the Messiah has yet to come, that he will do so only when he chooses, and that any attempt to pre-empt his coming is a grievous sin.<br><br>
Rabbi Sholom Dov Lifschitz, head of the ultra-Orthodox Yad Leahim organization that campaigns against missionary activity in Israel, says Messianic Jews give him "great pain."<br><br>
"They are provoking ... it's a miracle that worse things don't happen," he said.<br><br>
Messianic activists appear to have had some success among couples with one non-Jewish spouse, as well as immigrants from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union who have loose ties to Judaism.<br><br>
Or Yehuda, a town in central Israel with many immigrants as well as ultra-Orthodox Jews including a deputy mayor, Uri Aharon, was the scene of the May 15 book-burning.<br><br>
Ami Dahan, a local police official, says hundreds of Christian religious books were burned on May 15 in an empty lot in town. He said Deputy Mayor Uzi Aharon, has been questioned on suspicion that he instructed youths to collect the books from homes where they had been distributed and told them to burn them.<br><br>
Aharon denies ordering the burning. He says the books were collected from a neighborhood of mostly Ethiopian immigrants who are easily persuaded by missionaries.<br><br>
"There are three missionaries who live and work in the town, and every Saturday they take people to worship and try to brainwash them," Aharon said.<br><br>
Many Messianic Jews say they recognize the sensitivities involved and do not distribute religious material or conduct high-profile campaigns. But Aharon noted a recent "Jews for Jesus" campaign with signs on buses that equated two similar Hebrew words — "Jesus" and "salvation." Public outrage quickly forced the bus company to remove the signs.<br><br>
Lawyer Dan Yakir of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel says the law allows missionaries to preach provided they don't offer gifts or money or go after minors.<br><br>
"It is their right according to freedom of religion to maintain their religious lifestyle and disseminate their beliefs, including through literature," he said.<br><br>
But the obstacles are evident, raised not just from religious activists but by the state.<br><br>
Calev Myers, a lawyer who represents Messianic Jews, said he has fought 200 legal cases in the past two years. Most involve authorities' attempts to close down houses of worship, revoke the citizenship of believers or refuse to register their children as Israelis. In one case, Israel has accused a German religion student of missionary activity and has tried — so far unsuccessfully — to deport her.<br><br>
In incidents of violence, police are reluctant to press charges, Myers said.<br><br>
The book-burning caused shock among U.S. evangelicals.<br><br>
Dave Parsons, spokesman of the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, which represents evangelical Christian communities, said the test would be how vigorously authorities pursued the case.<br><br>
"We believe there is a link to a series of incidents here in the land that involve harassment, intimidation and physical violence," he said.<br><br>
The Ortiz family moved from the United States to Israel in 1985, qualifying as immigrants under Israel's Law of Return because Leah, the mother, is Jewish. In 1989 they moved into Ariel, a Jewish settlement in the West Bank, and established a small Messianic group which now numbers 60, most of them immigrants from the former Soviet Union, according to David Ortiz, the pastor and Ami's father.<br><br>
He said that he built the community through conversations with friends and neighbors, but did not actually go door-to-door distributing religious material to strangers in the traditional sense of missionary work. David Ortiz says he has also proselytized in the Palestinian areas — prompting Islamic leaders there to warn against contact with him. Ortiz said he had "no problem" if Messianic Jews discuss their religious views with others and persuade them to believe in Jesus.<br><br>
When the family began holding study sessions, a rabbi warned Ortiz not to speak about Jesus outside the home.<br><br>
In 2005, fliers were distributed in Ariel warning that there were believers of Jesus in the community. One day, two men wearing the black skullcaps of Orthodox Jews knocked on the door and photographed Ortiz when he answered. Recently the photo turned up on a flier with the family's address.<br><br>
When the basket was left at the door Ami wasn't surprised, since it was Purim, a holiday when Jews exchange gifts.<br><br>
"I opened it up and I heard it and then I was on the floor and I didn't hear anything, I didn't see anything," the lanky boy recalls.<br><br>
Ami was in critical condition, with severe gashes in his legs and feet and one that just missed his jugular vein. His tryout for the Maccabi team was canceled.<br><br>
His family initially suspected Palestinians; Ariel is in the heart of the West Bank and surrounded by Palestinian towns and villages and, like most Jewish settlements, has been the target of Palestinian attacks. But police immediately told him the bomb was more sophisticated than those made by Palestinians since it contained plastic explosives.<br><br>
"Nobody ever suspected that a Jewish group would do such a thing, that they would put a bomb in somebody else's house," David Ortiz said.<br><br>
Police have since told the family that Palestinians were not behind the bombing. The family has footage from a security camera of a man delivering the package, according to a person close to the family who spoke on condition of anonymity because police say disclosing details could harm the investigation.<br><br>
Police spokesman Danny Poleg would not discuss the case, saying only that no arrests have been made.<br><br>
Meanwhile, the Messianic Jewish believers are taking no chances. These days they worship under the protection of an armed guard.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/304922008-06-11T07:00:00-06:002008-06-11T07:00:00-06:00Christian Post_June 11, 2008Publication: Christian Post<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: June 11, 2008<br>
Country: USA<br>
Section: International/Persecution<br>
Title: Israel's Messianic Jews Draw Ire of Orthodox Jews <br>
Reporter: Michelle A. Vu, Christian Post Reporter <br>
Article: <a href="http://www.christianpost.com/Intl/Persecution/2008/06/israel-s-messianic-jews-draw-ire-of-orthodox-jews-11/index.html" target="_new">Link</a><br><br>
[Excerpt]<br><br><div style="text-align: justify;">Pastor David Ortiz says his family is afraid that what happened to them will happen to other Messianic Jews in Israel.<br><br>
“With us, they crossed the line, and we’re afraid of it happening to someone else,” Ortiz told Time.<br><br>
On March 20, Ortiz’s son, Ami, removed a chocolate from an anonymous gift box left at his door and detonated a bomb that blew out all the apartment’s windows and was heard a mile away. Doctors found over 100 pieces of metal – nails, screws, and needles – implanted throughout the boy’s body. Although Ami survived, he will need to undergo six more operations involving skin grafting and the removal of shrapnel from his eyes.<br><br>
But Ami’s mother, Leah Ortiz, assures concerned Christians around the world that Christians are not being persecuted in Israel. She called what happened to her son “insanity,” not religion.<br><br>
The Ortiz family, who are originally from Brooklyn, N.Y., plans to stay in Israel despite escalated violence against Messianic Jews in Israel and Ami’s injuries.<br><br>
"Jesus wasn't born in Brooklyn. He was born here,” Ortiz told Time. “We're staying."<br><br>
There are between 6,000 and 15,000 Messianic Jews in Israel.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/304902008-06-06T07:00:00-06:002008-06-06T07:00:00-06:00Time_June 6, 2008Publication: Time<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: June 6, 2008<br>
Country: USA<br>
Section: World<br>
Title: Israel's Messianic Jews Under Attack <br>
Reporter: Tim McGirk<br>
Link: <a target="_new" href="http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1812430,00.html">http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1812430,00.html</a><br><div style="text-align: justify;">
<br>
Israel's Messianic Jews Under Attack<br><br>
The flyers appeared everywhere inside the Jewish settlement of Ariel, on car windshields and telephone poles, and in bus shelters. "Beware," it read, "these are the members of the Jewish Missionary Cult. They are baptizing Jews into Christianity." Included was a photo of Pastor David Ortiz and his address.<br><br>
Ortiz didn't give it a thought. His Jewish neighbors liked him, and so did Ariel's mayor, who found Ortiz, originally from Brooklyn, useful in recruiting funds and political support from American and German Evangelicals for this stone-clad settlement on a breezy hilltop inside Palestinian territory.<br><br>
But somebody disliked Ortiz and his beliefs enough to try to kill him and his family. By chance, Ortiz and his wife Leah were gone on March 20th when an unknown person dropped off a bomb disguised as a holiday gift package loaded with candy and chocolates. When Ortiz's 15 year-old son Ami plucked off a chocolate, it detonated a bomb powerful enough to blow out all the apartment's windows apartment and to be heard a mile away. The bomb was packed with nails, screws and needles. Doctors found over 100 pieces of metal embedded in the boy's body by the blast, which sheared off the skin and muscle on his legs and chest. The teenager survived, but still faces six more operations of skin grafts and the removal of shrapnel from his eyes. Whoever did it, says Ortiz, knew "that we adults wouldn't open up the Purim package — it would be the kids."<br><br>
Messianic Jews, as these Jews who believe in Jesus are called, number just a few in Israel — anywhere between 6,000 and 15,000 — but they provoke hatred all out of proportion to their meager numbers. Many orthodox Jews view them as traitors for joining the Christian faith, which for centuries has persecuted Jews. One Messianic Jew, Tzvi Sadan, a teacher and editor, recalls telling his father, a Holocaust survivor, that he had accepted Jesus as his savior. "My dad flipped out. He said that the SS guards in the camp had 'God Is With Us' written on their belts. He told me, 'You've joined the enemy.' But he calmed down a bit when he saw my prayer shawl."<br><br>
Some rabbis also view the Messianic Jews' conversion as part of a grand Evangelical scheme to fulfill Biblical prophecy (which requires the conversion of the Jews) and hasten the Messiah's arrival. Messianic Jews observe Judaism's rites, holidays and customs but believe in Jesus as the Messiah.<br><br>
But lately, the outrage among extremist orthodox Jews has spilled into violence. Even after the Ariel bombing it has continued. Last month, when the deputy mayor of Or Yehuda, a town near Tel Aviv, found out that Messianic Jews had been passing out copies of the New Testament to a community of poor Ethiopian Jews, he ordered the books to be collected and they were set alight in a bonfire. He later apologized and said the Bibles had been burned accidentally. "If somebody had done that in Europe to Jewish Torahs, you can image what sort of a reaction that would provoke here," says Ortiz. To be fair, commentators and officials in Israel were quick to condemn the act, comparing it to the infamous book burning by Nazis.<br><br>
Messianic Jews living in the Negev Desert also say they are routinely harassed and attacked by yeshiva students, some inspired by Yad L'achem, a religious organization dedicated to stamping out Christian missionary activities in Israel. Random acts of anti-Christian violence have also occurred: last October in Jerusalem, a church was fire-bombed, and several days after Christmas, a German pilgrim who was returning from Bethlehem carrying a large wooden cross was attacked by a gang of ultra-orthodox youths who smashed the cross into splinters. These are isolated attacks, and Christians living in Israel say that as long as they refrain from missionary work — prohibited by the Israeli government — they are left free to worship.<br><br>
Israel finds itself in a predicament: it wants to welcome Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land out of goodwill and for tourism revenue, but it also wants to keep exuberant missionaries from trying to convert Jews. At the same time, news of these attacks — especially the Ariel bombing and the Bible-burning — has circulated widely among Christian churches around the world. "I'm getting calls from Norway," says Leah Ortiz, "asking if Christians are being persecuted in Israel, and I say 'No, of course not.' What happened to our son, this isn't religion. It's insanity."<br><br>
So far, police have failed to make any arrests in the Ortiz bombing. But whoever assembled the bomb knew what he was doing and had access to plastic explosives, probably stolen from the Israeli military. "We're afraid that whoever did this," says Ortiz, "might try it again. With us, they crossed the line, and we're afraid of it happening to someone else."<br><br>
Given the hardship Messianic Jews face in Israel and his son's multiple injuries, would the Ortiz move his family back to Brooklyn? "No way," Ortiz replies. "Jesus wasn't born in Brooklyn. He was born here. We're staying." <br><br><i>With reporting by Aaron J. Klein/Jerusalem</i>
</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/304872008-06-05T07:00:00-06:002017-02-01T12:30:13-07:00CBN_June 5, 2008Publication: CBN<br>
Type: TV/Online<br>
Date: June 5, 2008<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Section: CBN News<br>
Title: Turning Up the 'Heat' on Messianic Jews<br>
Reporter: Chris Mitchell, CBN News Middle East Bureau Chief <br>
Link: <a href="http://www.cbn.com/media/browse_videos_info.aspx?s=/vod/CMI106" target="_new">http://www.cbn.com/media/browse_videos_info.aspx?s=/vod/CMI106</a><br>
Video Link: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBz7Js_TP-o" target="_new">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBz7Js_TP-o</a><br>
Comment: Segment on Ami Ortiz begins at 2:12 Minutes<br><div style="text-align: justify;">
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A Near-Death Experience<br><br>
On March 20, during the Purim holiday, Ami Ortiz, the youngest son of a Messianic pastor's family opened a booby-trapped holiday gift box delivered to their home, triggering a powerful bomb that nearly killed him and destroyed most of the contents of their apartment.<br><br>
Though he's made miraculous strides in his recovery, this 15-year-old Israeli believer still faces a long stretch of surgeries and physical therapy.<br><br>
Police suspect that anti-missionaries were behind the bombing. But after more than two months, no arrests have been made, and the family's attorney claims police are not pursuing the investigation.<br><br>
The police sought a court order to prevent Israel's Channel 1 from broadcasting a story on the attack, which criticized their handling of the case, but the court denied the petition and the program aired last Friday evening.<br><br>
"By God's grace, it was broadcast all over the country," David Ortiz, Ami's father told CBN News. "People were able to see it on the Internet. It was shown on satellite TV in the States and in other places, and Israelis were able to see for the first time what actually took place in my house," he said.<br><br>
Other Incidents around the Country<br><br>
There have been increasing numbers of incidents against Messianic believers, in places like the northern coastal city of Acco, Kiryat Gat, Jerusalem, and Beersheba.<br><br>
The small Messianic fellowship in the southern desert city of Arad, less than 30 miles east of Beersheba, has experienced one of the most intense oppositions. Members of the Gur Hasidim, an ultra-Orthodox sect, frequently demonstrate in front of the homes of Jewish believers and at their fellowship when it meets on Shabbat (the Sabbath).<br><br>
Yad L'Achim (hand to the brothers), an anti-missionary organization, works at galvanizing Israelis against the country's Messianic Jews.<br><br>
"We're expressing protest against the fact that these people came here, people who came to this country in a problematic way, with social problems," said Yad L'Achim activist Alex Artovski.<br><br>
"And they take people from the people of Israel and make them missionaries who belong to the cult Messianic Jews," he said.<br><br>
But some Israelis find Yad L'Achim's demonstrations deeply disturbing.<br><br>
"The Haredim are bothering them day and night and this bothers me very much because I am from a family of Holocaust survivors and my grandmother and grandfather in Poland were shouted at -- 'Jews get out,'" said Zohar Galant.<br><br>
"Like this they are shouting at them now that they will get out. I, as a Jew, am embarrassed by these people who are engaging in these demonstrations and hurting innocent people," Galant said.<br><br>
Jerusalem Bible Society Director Victor Kalisher has another concern -- that Israeli society will tolerate attacks against Messianic Jews.<br><br>
"If the leaders of religious groups, people of leadership, people who should be a role models, are described as people who initiate and support burning of books with students dancing around it, the next day we can have people hurt, we can have windows broken, we can have a burnt shop. We cannot ignore it, we cannot think that well it's an isolated incident," he said. "It is not."</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/304992008-06-04T07:00:00-06:002008-06-04T07:00:00-06:00CBN_June 4, 2008Publication: CBN<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: June 4, 2008<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Section: Jerusalem Dateline<br>
Title: The Latest Update on Ami Ortiz<br>
Reporter: Chris Mitchell, CBN News Middle East Bureau Chief<br>
Link: <a target="_new" href="http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/386180.aspx">http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/482090.aspx</a>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br>
Today we ran a story on the growing persecution of Messianic believers in Israel. In the story, we mentioned a story done by Channel 1, a national Israeli news channel about Ami Ortiz, the 15 year old nearly killed by a bomb on March 20th. If you would like to see the story with an English translation, here's the link:<br><br>
We also keep getting requests for updates about how Ami is doing. Here are a couple of excerpts from the latest updates from the family. They continue to covet prayers for Ami's complete recovery. If you would like to contact the family or Ami, they can be reached at:<br><br>
Ami Ortiz<br>
P.O. Box 1903<br>
Ariel 40700<br>
Israel<br><br>
"Thank you all for praying for Ami - I have received so many encouraging emails. We're also thankful for every postcard, letter, calendar, drawing, and love gift that we've received. Our way is so much easier because of the love and concern expressed through every form of communication.<br><br>
I wanted to update you on something -- Ami was scheduled to have the operation to repair nerves in his left arm this Monday, June 2nd. However, on Tuesday he all of a sudden became ill with a throat infection for which he's on antibiotics. Therefore, the operation is postponed for two weeks!! I believe this is of the Lord, as there is time for the Lord to intervene as we press in and pray for healing of the nerves in his arms and hands. He experiences much pain in his left hand especially, but he's being given a new medication for the neuropathy, which is beginning in small doses, and then will be increased.<br><br>
Again, I believe that this delay is from the Lord, when the doctor told me, I felt a joy that I can't describe in my heart, and I "knew because I knew" this delay was from Him.<br><br>
Thank you that you are there for us - and that you are faithful to pray. We love you all, and are grateful to the Lord for you every day. We pray for blessing on your families and great increase especially in the Spirit in these last days.<br><br>
A video report has been done on Ami and the bombing which will air on Channel one in Israel at 8PM our time this Friday May 30th. The police tried to stop this report from being aired and brought Channel one into court twice!! However they were defeated twice. They say that they don't want details of the case revealed for their investigation but 9 weeks have passed with no arrests and no suspects. This is something that needs much prayer, but please pray for the perpetrators of this attempted murder and hate crime to be apprehended and for justice to be done..<br><br><i>... Please pray that we will be able to stay faithful and full of faith through this ordeal. I often feel overwhelmed by what Ami is going through, and Ami is weakened by the pain to the point of tears every so often. David and I are grateful though, that bottom line he's with us, and we can be going through what we're going through. We are also grateful because even in the natural there are solutions for all of his problems. We are grateful that we have all of you so faithfully praying and believing for us. We are also grateful that we have a great God who loves us and has never left us or forsaken us for a moment." </i>
</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/304702008-05-30T07:00:00-06:002017-02-01T12:30:10-07:00Israel_Channel 1_May 30, 2008TV Channel: Channel 1<br>
Program: Yoman Shishi<br>
Title: N/A<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Date: May 30, 2008<br>
Reporter: Amir Gera<br>
Running Time: 22:46 Minutes<br>
Link to Part 1: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tE4Y4_fU9M" target="_new">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tE4Y4_fU9M</a><br>
Link to Part 2: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgYz6KqbVSo" target="_new">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgYz6KqbVSo</a><br><br><br><object width="445" height="364"><param name="movie" value="https://www.youtube.com/v/0tE4Y4_fU9M&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&border=1">
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Type: Online<br>
Date: May 28, 2008<br>
Country: USA<br>
Section: World<br>
Title: Hundreds of New Testaments torched in Israel<br>
Reporter: Mark Bixler<br>
Link: <a target="_new" href="http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/05/28/bible.burning/?iref=hpmostpop">http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/05/28/bible.burning/?iref=hpmostpop</a>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br>
[Excerpt]<br><br>
About two months ago, the teenage son of a Messianic pastor was severely injured when a package delivered to his home exploded, Myers said. In addition, several rabbis urged students to boycott further participation in a Bible competition after they learned that one winner -- a high-school student in Israel -- was a Messianic Jew, he said.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/304932008-05-28T07:00:00-06:002008-05-28T07:00:00-06:00Christianity Today_May 28, 2008Publication: Christianity Today<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: May 28, 2008<br>
Country: USA<br>
Section: Editorial<br>
Title: Israel Reconciled to All<br>
Reporter: N/A<br>
Link: <a target="_new" href="http://www.ctlibrary.com/ct/2008/june/12.20.html">http://www.ctlibrary.com/ct/2008/june/12.20.html</a><br><div style="text-align: justify;">Link: <a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/june/12.20.html" target="_new">http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/june/12.20.html</a><br><br>
Israel Reconciled to All<br>
Ground-level religious discrimination against Messianic Jews may be changing.<br><br>
[Excerpt]<br><br>
Faith-based Extremism<br><br>
Granted, Israel scores very high for protecting basic freedom of religious belief and worship. As a Jewish and democratic state, the government officially acknowledges Judaism, Christianity, Druze, Islam, and Baha'i. Ten branches of Christianity are recognized, although official relations with the Vatican are moving forward slowly.<br><br>
But robust religious equality at the grassroots level is significantly at risk due to discrimination and the rise of faith-based extremism. In 2005, the annual U.S. International Religious Freedom Report said, "The government [of Israel] discriminates against non-Jewish citizens and residents, the vast majority of whom are Arab Muslims and Christians, in the areas of employment, education, and housing."<br><br>
In certain parts of Israel and areas under Palestinian control, a handful of extremist ultra-Orthodox Jews and radical Islamists have for years acted out against Christians and Messianic Jews who proclaim the gospel. This anti-missionary extremism has included death threats, beatings, vandalism, arson, extensive surveillance, stalking, disrupting baptisms and worship services, and neighborhood poster campaigns to stigmatize individual worshipers. Police have brought charges in very few cases. (These incidents have occurred at a time when anti-Semitic vandalism has continued elsewhere in the world.)<br><br>
No one was fully prepared for how far faith-based extremism in Israel could go. During the celebration in late March of Purim, which marks the Jewish deliverance from Haman's plot as chronicled in the Book of Esther, someone left a brightly packaged "Happy Purim" gift (mishlo'ach manot) at the front door of David Ortiz, a well-known Messianic pastor in Ariel, a major West Bank settlement city in historic Samaria.<br><br>
The pastor's 15-year-old son, Ami, unknowingly took the gift into the family kitchen. He opened it, setting off a bomb explosion that severely injured his eyes, neck, and lungs. A neighbor with military medical training ran into the devastated dwelling and saved Ami's life with an emergency tracheotomy. Pastor Ortiz, speaking from his home, told CT that Ami is healing, but will have enormous difficulty making a full recovery.<br><br>
The bombing triggered a flood of media attention. Initially, Messianic Judaism was branded as a cult. But Ron Nachman, the mayor of Ariel, publicly set the record straight that the Ortiz family were a positive influence in Ariel. Five of the six Ortiz children have served in the army, and later, one of them publicly forgave the bomber in a national media interview.<br><br>
About four weeks later, Messianic Jews achieved a stunning legal victory. Overturning previous decisions, the Supreme Court of Israel ruled that the state could not discriminate against Messianic Jews and deny them citizenship based on their religious beliefs, provided they are descended from Jews on their father's side (and thus not Jewish according to Jewish ritual law). James Sibley, a former missionary to Israel and now a college professor in Texas, told Baptist Press that he "can't help but believe" the high-court ruling was influenced by the terror bombing.<br><br>
David Ortiz said Israelis have responded differently to the family's offer of forgiveness for the bombing. "For some, it's illogical. They were shocked. This never has been heard of before," he told CT. "Others see the face of Jesus."<br><br>
He said the rarely discussed context for this attack is the persistent growth of new believers among Israeli Jews. "There is a wave not of American or European Jews, but of homegrown Israeli Jews turning to Yeshua." These individuals do not suddenly become Baptists, Methodists, or Presbyterians. Most of them intensify their Jewish identity and commitment to Israel.<br><br>
As Israel moves past its 60th birthday, both evangelical Christianity and Messianic Judaism inside Israel are growing with unexpected strength. If religious liberty and equality are also allowed to grow, the odds for meaningful reconciliation and justice improve dramatically—for everyone. As a result, Israel will further live out God's covenant to be a light to the nations, a maker of just peace, and a blessing to all.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/304732008-05-01T07:00:00-06:002017-02-01T12:30:10-07:00Sukkat Hallel_May 2008TV Channel: Sukkat Hallel<br>
Program: One Thing Conference<br>
Title: David and Leah Ortiz's Testimony<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Date: March 2008<br>
Host: Rick Ridings<br>
Translator: Mike Decker<br>
Running Time: 20:30 Minutes<br><br><div style="text-align: justify;">The parents of Ami Ortiz tell about their son, who was the victim of a horrible terrorist incident within their own home. They tell of God's faithfulness in bringing their family through it all and the healing process taking place in their son. They were interviewed by Rick Ridings, director of Succat Hallel, at a conference hosted by Succat Hallel in May 2008.</div>
<br>
Link to Part 1: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iLo7PmJXrc" target="_new">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iLo7PmJXrc</a><br>
Link to Part 2:<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgtfwoLF-3o" target="_new"> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgtfwoLF-3o</a><br>
Link to Part 3: <a target="_new" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZAtqoYQC1c">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZAtqoYQC1c</a><br><br><object width="445" height="364"><param name="movie" value="https://www.youtube.com/v/8iLo7PmJXrc&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&border=1">
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Type: Newspaper<br>
Date: April 4, 2008<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Section: N/A<br>
Title: The God of Vengeance<br>
Reporter: Boaz Gaon<br>
Photographer: Reuben Castro<br>
Downloadable PDF:
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br><b>The God of Vegeance</b><br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/25847/61986e0a91f796fd9c94f84a2b141233f51ca314/original/MaarivPic1.jpg?1377783039" class="size_orig justify_left border_" alt="" style="width: 263px; height: 338px;" />Translation of a full three-page article regarding dangerous attitudes of the ultra-religious community towards Messianic Jews in Israel, published in the “Ma’ariv” newspaper. Ma’ariv is the newspaper with the second largest distribution in the nation of Israel.<br><br>
On Purim, Ami Ortiz, a Messianic Jew, received a letter bomb that looked like mishloakh manot (traditional Purim gift). Why? Because he and his friends are “murderers of souls” and “destroyers of Jews”. A voyage through towns in which ultra-orthodox Jews persecute them because of their religion. <br><br>
The captain of the Hapoel Ariel youth soccer team is lying in bed on the fifth floor of the Schneider Medical Center trying to defend himself from the orogastric tube, the TV and other tubes. He doesn’t see very well and his hearing is impaired, and he has lost four of the toes on his left foot. His lungs are deflated, his face is charred, his stomach has no skin covering it and his chin has a scar over which a scab has yet to develop. The scar marks the point of entry the team of doctors, led by Dr. Meir Cohen, used to access the system of tendons and nerves that leads to the brain. This was performed in order to ascertain if the 15 year old blond youth, who fills the entire length of the bed from the beige wall to the iron frame, is capable of thinking. “What’s that?” Ortiz whispers, who first wokOn Purim, Ami Ortiz, a Messianic Jew, received a letter bomb that looked like mishloakh manot (traditional Purim gift). Why? Because he and his friends are “murderers of souls” and “destroyers of Jews”. A voyage through towns in which ultra-orthodox Jews persecute them because of their religion. The captain of the Hapoel Ariel youth soccer team is lying in bed on the fifth floor of the Schneider Medical Center trying to defend himself from the orogastric tube, the TV and other tubes. He doesn’t see very well and his hearing is impaired, and he has lost four of the toes on his left foot. His lungs are deflated, his face is charred, his stomach has no skin covering it and his chin has a scar over which a scab has yet to develop. The scar marks the point of entry the team of doctors, led by Dr. Meir Cohen, used to access the system of tendons and nerves that leads to the brain. This was performed in order to ascertain if the 15 year old blond youth, who fills the entire length of the bed from the beige wall to the iron frame, is capable of thinking. “What’s that?” Ortiz whispers, who first woke up in the small hours of the night. I am told he feels like the explosion just happened and as if he just woke up bandaged, scarred and ripped to shreds. <br><br><i>“The mishloakh manot was nicely decorated. I put it on the table and opened it and then there was an explosion and I was thrown backwards. I didn’t hear anything until someone told me ‘don’t move’. I knew something had exploded. I realized “The mishloakh manot was nicely decorated. I put it on the table and opened it and then there was an explosion and I was thrown backwards. I didn’t hear anything until someone told me ‘don’t move’. I knew something had exploded. I realized my body was in shock. I thought to myself: What’s this? What happened? I was confused.” -Ami Ortiz</i><br><br>
The look in his eyes reflects horror, loss and a fierce will to escape. He fears what he cannot see, and he can’t see much. <br><br>
“Those are bandages,” says the nurse. “We can’t take them off now.” <br>
“There’s someone there,” says Ortiz.<br>
“That’s a chair.”<br>
“Where?”<br>
“There. There. Who’s that there?”<br>
“That dad,” says the nurse and looks at Ortiz’s father David, dressed in a checked shirt, his brow deeply furrowed. He stands with his arms folded, looking at his shattered son with sleepless eyes. <br><br><b>Pact of the Disappointed</b><br><br>
Two weeks earlier Ami Ortiz was lying in bed in his bedroom facing Avner Street in Ariel under the small basketball hoop with “New Boom Action” written on it. Marina, the cleaning lady, was working in the house which comprises two not particularly spacious apartments on the third floor of an apartment block. One of the apartments, which includes Ami’s room is mainly used as a residence. The other, on the other side of the stairwell, is mainly used for meetings of the Messianic Jewish community in Ariel, headed by David Ortiz, Ami’s father.<br><br>
Translation of a full three-page article regarding dangerous attitudes of the ultra-religious community towards Messianic Jews in Israel, published in the “Ma’ariv” newspaper. Ma’ariv is the newspaper with the second largest distribution in the nation of Israel. Ortiz Sr. was born in Puerto Rico. Six months later he emigrated with his parents to Brooklyn, New York. He spent his youth on the border between the Hispanic part of Brooklyn and the ultra orthodox Jewish part of Brooklyn, Flatbush, Crown Heights and Williamsburg. This ethnic-cultural mix led to an interest in the Jewish faith which, in turn, led to a visit to a store that sold Jewish sacred literature which led to the young boy visiting a store managed by a Jewish American by the name of Arnold Ross, formerly Rosenberg. Rosenberg explained to Ortiz that he was a Jew, but not just that. He believed in Jesus. He called him “Yeshua”. He is a Messianic Jew that belongs to a theological faction that became a movement sometime in the sixties, particularly in the United States, in an effort to “fuse” the Jewish and Christian faiths into one. This was part of a general reaction to frameworks, institutions and ancient traditions. <br><br>
In order to gain an understanding of the movement, and this is based on discussions with dozens of believers and on participation in their ceremonies; it should not only be placed within an Israeli context but also in an Anglo-Saxon American context. The Messianic faith has attracted, and is attracting, Jews and Christians who became disillusioned with their parents’ traditional beliefs after the latter filled them with feelings of rejection and offence. The Jews, who were accustomed to thinking of God as a kind of bearded accountant who counts up their daily failures, embraced the Christian Messiah, who accepted them – for a change, they felt – unconditionally and without taking stock. “I was bothered by the fact,” wrote Yaakov Damkani, one of the heads of the Messianic communityin Tel Aviv, in his book Why Me? (like many other “believers” Damkani converted from a Jew to a Messianic Jew following a visit to the United States) “that synagogue congregants did not see God as a loving father but rather related to him as a strict and authoritarian master whose commands must be followed, and they felt they must do everything in their power to justify themselves. I wanted more than that.” <br><br>
The Christians, like David Ortiz for example, who were used to thinking of the church as a strict, formally dressed and condescending guardian of morals, adopted the Jewish tradition as well as its strong links with Israel. Instead of adapting themselves to the religion of the ruling Christian elite they became better. “Perfect”, in the eyes of the Lord Savior, despite their unsuitability to the high demands of the priest. Easter became Passover. The Eucharist of Jesus became matzot, the Jews and the Christians became Messianic believers. Their belief, in one sentence: the Bible prophesied the coming of Jesus and he, the Christian savior, was and remained a Jew. <br><br>
There is another matter: the faith, according to the Messianics, should be simple to practice. The practice should be enjoyable, including musical accompaniment with a guitar, chord booklets and spontaneous prayers. The Messianic belief is a type of associative improvisation of the classic Judaism and Christianity. As such it is attractive for people from cultural and ethnic margins: mixed couples, immigrants from Russia, and Jews and Christians who are disappointed with their respective original beliefs.<br><br><b>Nazi with Cross-eyed Children<br></b><br>
Around a decade and a half after meeting Rosenberg, in Brooklyn of the seventies, David Ortiz immigrated to Israel with his (Messianic Jewish) wife Leah and three children. He settled in Beersheba, later in Jerusalem and then moved to Avner Street in Ariel. He joined the IDF reserves and paid his taxes and began to disseminate his Judeo-Christian belief. The second floor of his home became a study room with an organ, drums, a painting of Moses splitting the Red Sea and a stand with a Bible and the New Testament in a single volume. <br><br>
The problems began around a decade ago. The meeting place of the Messianic community in Kiryat Yam was set on fire. Members of the Beersheba community were set upon by an angry crowd of ultra orthodox Jews after the Chief Rabbi of Beersheba, Yehuda Deri, compared the Messianics to members of the inquisition in Spain, Nazis in Germany and Hamas activists. Three Molotov cocktails were thrown into the home of a resident of Migdal. The chess club of the Messianic community in Arad was set on fire. The Messianics blamed the Gur Hassidim. Later, the club manager, a black American from Harlem called Ari Beckford, lost his cool and ferociously attacked a Gur yeshiva student who called him a “nigger”. Beckford was found guilty and returned to New York. Meanwhile, the head of the Arad Messianic community, Yakim Figurt, began to be shadowed by a gang of eight to ten Gur activists who called him “Haman the evil”. Once, when he took his children to kindergarten, the Hassidim waited for him and said: “Here’s the Nazi priest with his cross-eyed children.”<br><br>
Around two years ago an unsigned flyer was circulated in Ariel, in Hebrew and Russian, warning residents of Ariel against David Ortiz. “These people,” it said, “are Christian missionaries pretending to be Jews!” The flyer contained clandestine photographs of Ortiz and seven other believers. The person who took the pictures had followed Ortiz and the others, so Ortiz installed cameras around his home. One camera was concealed in the stairwell, one outside the window of 15 year old Ami Ortiz’s room, and another five cameras on the outside walls of the building. The quality of the pictures is very good. The head of the Beersheba community, Howard Bass, who is particularly reviled by the ultra orthodox community (and whose eye was almost gouged out with a key in the writer’s presence – more about that later) also covered the walls of his home with cameras, although of an inferior quality. <br><br>
Since the beginning of March this year the cameras captured a series of acts of harassment by yeshivah students dressed in black: throwing stones, throwing garbage. <br><br>
Meanwhile, in Ariel, on March 20 Ortiz’s cameras photographed a uniformed man with a hat on climbing up the steps. Next to the small wooden gate that leads to the doors of the Oriz home, he bent down and placed a small parcel there and rang the bell. Marina, the cleaner, when she left the apartment saw the small parcel on the floor, with colorful wrapping and with the words “Hag Same’akh” (Happy Holidays) on it. <br><br>
Marina took the parcel inside and put it on the floor inside the apartment, and called Ami from his room. Ami went over to the parcel lifted it up and put it on the table. He called his mother Leah, who was on her way to Jerusalem with Messianic friends who were visiting from Denmark, and told her: “we have received mishloakh manot for Purim.” <br><br>
“It must be from one of the neighbors,” said Leah. <br><br>
Ami then sat down on the chair next to the wall and placed the parcel on the table. He could see a chocolate wafer through the cellophane wrapping paper. He fancied it and pulled one of the ribbons, was blown backwards and, for a long time, couldn’t hear or see anything, until an ambulance arrived, wheeled him along the sidewalk to a car that took him to Schneider. In retrospect, he recalls that he groaned in agony every time the stretcher wheels crossed from one paving stone to another. <br>
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Don’t Move, Don’t Move </b><br><br>
A week had passed since my previous visit to Ortiz. He looked better. The scar above his neck had changed from red to pink. His emotional state had improved but was not stable. This week the young basketball player discovered some of his toes were missing. <br><br>
“My vision was blurred before,” he said weakly. “Now I can see okay, but not entirely. I can’t read the sign over the door. I feel hot.” David Ortiz, standing to the right of his son’s bed, turned on a small ventilator. <br><br>
“I’m tired,” says Ami Ortiz. “I hardly sleep because of the pain and I wake up at four or five in the morning. I remember everything that happened. It was scary. The mishloakh manot was nicely decorated. I put it on the table and opened it, and then the explosion happened and I flew backwards.” When I visited the Ortiz home in Ariel I find the table leaning against a wall and covered by a woolen blanket. There was an enormous hole in one of the corners of the table and gave it the appearance of a matza with a great bite taken out of it. In the middle of the table there were marks fused into the wood by the base of the vase that stood there, until it exploded. <br><br>
“I didn’t hear anything,” Ortiz Jr. continues, “until someone said to me: ‘don’t move, don’t move.’ I knew that something had exploded. I realized my body was in shock and I thought to myself: What’s this? What happened? I was confused. All sorts of thoughts passed through my mind. I thought: Why me? Who could do such a thing? I couldn’t understand it. Someone had tried to harm us, my father. Two years they circulated posters with his picture. That was annoying. I went around with my friends and I took it down. They think we are different. That’s not true. I feel Jewish, I feel Israeli. Sorry, I don’t feel. I know!” <br><br>
Ortiz was tired. I closed my notebook and prepared to leave. He asked me to come closer. “I want you to note,” he gasped, “that it’s lies. Everything that… they wrote about… my parents… everything… they say… it’s lies. Make a note of that.” <br><br><b>Murdering our Souls </b><br><br>
Rabbi Shalom Dov Lifschitz sits in his office on the lower level of an office block on Jerusalem Street in Bnei Barak. The corridor leads to his which is festooned with posters that depict the extent of the threat posed by the Messianic movement to the ultra orthodox community. For them, and particularly for the Yad LaAkhim semi-commando organization of the Bnei Barak dedicated to combating the “mission phenomenon”, Ortiz and his colleagues are soul murderers, destroyers of Jews, the descendants of the Crusaders who swamped Jerusalem in rivers of blood. They are smiling monsters with pockets full of cash sent from America whose sole objective is to convert the Israeli people to Christianity and not to leave a single pure soul. <br><br>
“They want the entire Jewish nation to convert to Christianity,” says Rabbi Lifschitz, who heads Yad LaAkhim. “Every Jew that does not convert to Christianity, for them, is an obstacle to the coming of the Redemption. What does Hamas want? The land. They want something else: our souls… Every Jew they take is an enormous gain for them. Every Jew is prey. They must be caught.” <br><br>
I asked about Ami Ortiz and about what happened in Ariel. “According to what I heard,” said the rabbi, “there were just a few fire crackers inside the box that exploded.” (“I have been treating victims of terror attacks for 15 years,” Ortiz’s doctor Dr. Cohen told me. “He was injured by hundreds of pieces of shrapnel, from his feet up to his head.”) “Besides,” said Meir Cohen, who is responsible for “the mission file”, “the violence is not one-sided. A while ago I was sitting with a Messianic and he said to me: ‘You killed the Messiah’.” <br><br>
“We do not have any intention of causing harm,” said Yisrael Lifschitz, the rabbi’s son. “It would also be idiotic for us, like shooting ourselves in the foot, or the head.”<br><br>
Members of the Ortiz family doubt whether the sweet mishloakh manot was sent to Ariel from Jerusalem Street. The believe that all the talk about “worse than murder”, “worse than Hitler” and “English-speaking Nazis” may have fuelled the imagination of an unstable yeshiva member, or may have incited a new extreme right wing activist group which began to operate independently in the area in and around Ariel. That is also one of the investigation directions being pursued by the police, as far as the Ortiz family knows. <br><br>
“It is unnatural for there not to be violence,” Lifschitz says defensively. “Considering what they have done to us, we should have killed one Christian every day, right? (he laughs). So, 60 years have gone by and there has been one incident. It’s not a representative incident. It’s an isolated case.” <br><br><b>You are a Russian, You Are a Dog </b><br><br>
Beersheba, the old city, the blue iron door of Lilly Sher who was born in Russia 67 years ago and came here 12 years ago, is covered most of the week with egg shells which give the metal the appearance of an avant garde art work. The eggs are thrown by students of the nearby yeshiva which is just 100 meters from the Messianic community center in Beersheba. The community is based at a beautiful fortress from the 12th century which arouses the ire of the neighbors because, according to the neighbors, they provide evidence of the inexhaustible sources of money of the Messianic community. <br><br>
The community, it should be said, is connected to missionary evangelical organizations that mostly work out of the United States, and who consider the Messianics a variation of the principal belief according to which Jesus is about to arrive from the Mount of Olives. As such, the Jews should be supported until he arrives, then most of us will be destroyed, or at least those who do not accept Jesus as their Messiah. <br><br>
On the other hand, one must point out that Israel, and particularly the right wing parties (principally Binyamin Netanyahu) have joined forces in recent years with those very evangelist groups who pour into the hands of “the sons of Jesus” (us) millions of dollars, in the hope that the dollars will prod the rear-end of the white donkey. The official representatives of Israel are regular guests at conferences which convey “support for Israel”, held at mega churches in Texas. <br><br>
With regard to Lilly Sher, the immigrant from Russia in whose tiny home I am sitting, she is concerned because she has just seen the tip of a hat worn by a yeshiva student. In other circumstances, he would have knocked on the glass, shouted something out or thrown a stone or an egg. “Why?” asks Lilly the Messianic Jew. “I came here from Russia 12 years ago. I went to the synagogue. They told me: ‘You are a Russian. You are a whore, a dog, go to America.’ America? What is there in America? I am from Azerbaijan.” <br>
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One day the head of the Messianic community in Beersheba, Howard Bass, knocked on the door. He didn’t call her a whore, or a dog. He offered her a mixture of Judaism and Christianity based on the idea that God loves her as she is. Even joining the community did not require a special effort, changing her way of dress or learning new material. Now she “believes in Yeshua.” The orthodox Jewish world, which threw her out of the synagogue, is sorry she has left and takes it revenge on her at the same time. She is both a victim and a criminal. “Yeshua is love,” she says. “For the religious everything is closed, closed, closed. They throw things and shout things. Why? I pray: please, kindness!” She gets up from the bed, throws herself of the floor, folds her hands and starts to cry. “There is no love in Israel,” she wails. “Everything is so tough… but God loves everyone… Jews and Arabs… and Russians… everyone… hallelujah!” <br><br>
After that, we got up and went outside to count the new eggshells on the door. We took our leave and I went back to the Messianic community center. I asked some yeshiva students why they throw eggs. One of them identified himself as a member of Yad L’achim and began to answer me but, suddenly, the head of the yeshiva appeared – we will call him “C”. He took out a sharp key and held it up against Howard Bass’s eye, stood up close to him and, for half an hour, growled in refined English acquired in Brooklyn: <br><br>
“You made a big, big mistake Howard… I will f*** you now… f*** you good… if I see you one more time here, or your wife the bitch, I will f*** you, ohhhh Howard, you made a big, big, big mistake today… you motherf***er… I will f*** you, you will be sorry… you and your wife the whore… if you come here one more time.” <br><br>
That’s how it went on, until I identified myself as a journalist at which time the rabbi, after pausing in surprise, explained to me in Hebrew, winking, that “that’s the only way to talk to them. They are considered important people in their community,” the honored rabbi explained to me, “so you have to trample their honor, humiliate them.” After that he got angry again: “They are murderers, these people. Don’t you understand?! Can’t you imagine him with great big cross on his chest! And he rides a horse! That’s what they do here! If he had a knife he’d stick it in your heart. You’d defend yourself, right? That’s what they do here. They murder innocent souls! They are like the Hamas, only worse!” <br><br>
I asked the rabbi if it bothers him that there are seven young men behind him listening to his obscenities, particularly after what happened in Ariel. He said he wasn’t concerned. Anyway, he added, the Ortiz family in Ariel sent the bomb to themselves, to arouse Jewish sympathy. Just before I left the town, Bass pleaded with me not to mention the name of the rabbi. He was afraid he’d take revenge. <br><br><b>In the Name of Yeshua, Amen </b><br><br>
Downtown Arad. Nighttime. On the third floor of a nondescript building, in the apartment of a Muslim from Nazareth, there are five Messianic believers. Two are Jewish, three are not. One has a guitar and is leafing through a book of chords with Christian tunes for verses from the Psalms. The blinds are drawn, the door is locked, the air conditioner rumbles. They bow their heads and close their eyes, and one of them says: “Our lord in heaven, help us to love those who hate us. Help Ami Ortiz and help to heal him from this trauma. Protect IDF soldiers and stop any terrorist attacks during this Passover. In the name of Yeshua. Amen.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/304762008-04-11T07:00:00-06:002008-04-11T07:00:00-06:00CBN_April 11, 2008<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: CBN<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: April 11, 2008<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Section: Jerusalem Dateline<br>
Title: More updates on Ami Ortiz<br>
Reporter: Chris Mitchell, Middle East Bureau Chief<br>
Link: <a target="_new" href="http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/355790.aspx">http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/355790.aspx</a><br><br>
People around the world are still praying for Ami Ortiz, the 15-year-old boy who was severely injured just over three weeks ago.<br><br>
On March 20, Ami opened a Purim holiday gift box with a bomb inside, which nearly killed him. Despite the horrific injuries he suffered, according to his doctors, he's making an amazing recovery.<br><br>
But he still faces a long road to complete physical and emotional health. He needs prayer, in particular, for emotional healing. As you can imagine, anyone suffering these wounds would be going through a wrenching recovery emotionally.<br><br>
Ami faces questions. Will I ever be the same? Will my body be like it was? Can I play basketball again?<br><br>
Fifteen-year-olds get upset when their faces break out. How will Ami cope with the possibility of deep scaring?<br><br>
In light of this, his family is asking for prayer, both for emotional and continued physical healing.<br><br>
Send Encouraging Notes<br><br>
By the way, if you want to send a note of encouragement to Ami and the Ortiz family, you can write to them at the following address:<br><br>
P.O. Box 1903<br>
Ariel 40700<br>
ISRAEL<br><br>
A Father's Faith and Forgiveness<br><br>
Also, at the Epicenter Conference 08, held on, April 10, in Jerusalem, Joel Rosenberg introduced Ami's father, David Ortiz, to the more than 2,000 in attendance and thousands watching by Internet.<br><br>
David shared a moving message about faith and forgiveness.<br><br>
This week, two ministries released strong statements on the legalities of the bombing. The first is from Steve Strang, the publisher of Charisma magazine. The second is from the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem. Both reports are below.<br><br>
Following is the April 7 edition of the STRANG Report:<br><br>
This is what one of my friends in Israel wrote me about a terrorist attack against a Messianic Jewish family Friday, March 21. Click here to read one of the first articles written after its occurrence in The Jerusalem Post.<br><br>
During the Purim holiday on Friday morning a package was made to look like a Purim gift and was left on the doorstep of the home of David Ortiz a Messianic pastor.<br><br>
David Ortiz's 15-year-old son Ami sustained serious injuries from the blast after opening the package. <a target="_new" href="http://www.strangreport.com/extras/email.html#1">Click here </a>to read a personal e-mail account concerning the blast.<br><br>
At first police thought it might be Palestinian terrorism, but now they believe it was from Jewish extremists. The boy had an 8-inch gash, like someone slit his throat. He had ruptured lungs. Doctors had to operate on his tongue. He had second degree burns on his chest and arms, there was no flesh on his thighs and they had to amputate a couple of toes.<br><br>
Thankfully it appears that the boy will live. You can read a full report from the Jerusalem Post concerning the blast by Clicking here.<br><br>
You can read an update concerning Ami from private e-mails, which have been edited for security purposes, by Clicking here.<br><br>
When Palestinians attack Jewish settlements, there has been a great deal of outrage from the Christian community. Now I ask the question: why would Christians be outraged about attacking innocent Jews, but be silent when one of our Christian brothers is attacked in such a savage way.<br><br>
I am outraged about this attack. Israel is a democracy that guarantees everyone's freedom of religion. However, some of the anti-missionaries have been so vicious that now it has escalated to violence. Israel cannot allow this type of violence. Thankfully some Israelis are speaking up. But usually violence of this type is soon forgotten and no one is brought to justice.<br><br>
Messianic Judaism, while still a small percentage of the population, is growing rapidly and is considered a threat to some Orthodox Jews. I'm told that harassment of evangelical believers in general is increasing, especially against Messianic Jews.<br><br>
When I was at the Feast of Tabernacles last September, some Israeli leaders were telling Jews to boycott the event because the thousands of Christians who were coming and showing unconditional love to them were doing it with a hidden agenda: to convert the Jews.<br><br>
A couple of days after the attack, a package was left on the doorstep of another Messianic family and of course because of the previous attach the family thought it might be another bomb. Thankfully it wasn't. Click here to read the article from Thursday, March 23.<br><br>
Messianic believers in Israel are concerned that the violence is escalating and that this may be a new round of persecution. One of my friends sent me a private email, which I've edited. You can read the anguish in his words if you Click here.<br><br>
I'm not in Israel so I don't know if there is an outcry from Christian Zionists. If there is, I'd like to hear it. The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (THEY DID SPEAK OUT. SEE THEIR STATEMENT BELOW) and other Zionist groups should speak up even though they mostly distance themselves from the Messianics to try to be a little less controversial.<br><br>
Most Americans have not heard about this attack. Most Christians have not heard about it either. So in fairness, there hasn't been time to make a public outcry here. We need to send this e-mail to as many people as possible and urge leaders in the Jewish community to express their outrage.<br><br>
In my work with Christians United for Israel, I've gotten to know some high-ranking Israeli officials, some of whom have become good friends. I'm going to write each one and ask them to stand with us when violence is perpetrated against evangelical Christians. Civilized people of all types should not tolerate this type of violence, but especially when it's violence against evangelicals in Israel especially when evangelicals are among the few friends Israel has - some would say the only friends Israel has.<br><br>
Thankfully a few voices in Israel are speaking up. I've included an article Click here featured on YNetNews.com in which a Jewish writer compares this to an anti-Semitic attack that happened in France and French officials bent over backwards to prove that all of France was not anti-Semitic. Now it's time for Israel, which now seems to appreciate support from the evangelical Christian community, to show they are not anti-Christians.<br><br>
I've published many articles and several books that blast anti-Semitism. There's a long, sad history of that. But there are also those who are anti-Christian. Many are secularists. Some are radical Muslims. But there are also ultra-Orthodox groups like Yad L'Achim, who are responsible for constantly harassing Christian believers in Israel.<br><br>
What can we do? I hope you'll join me in writing letters of concern on behalf of evangelical and Messianic believers in Israel and bombard Israeli officials from the Foreign Ministry, the Tourism Ministry, the Prime Minister's Office, and the Ministry of Justice. I have included the links to their respective offices with their mailing address:<br><br>
Ministry of Foreign Affairs<br>
Tzipora Livni, MK, Vice Prime Minister<br>
Minister of Foreign Affairs<br>
9 Yitzhak Rabin Blvd.<br>
Kiryat Ben-Gurion Jerusalem 91035<br>
Tel. 972-2-530-3111<br>
Fax 972-2-530-3367<br><br>
Ministry of Tourism<br>
Rami Levi<br>
Tourism Ambassador to North and South America<br>
800 Second Avenue<br>
New York, NY 10017 USA<br>
Tel. 1-212-499-5650<br>
Fax: 1-212-499-5655<br><br>
Prime Minister's Office<br>
Ehud Olmert<br>
Prime Minister<br>
3 Kaplan St.<br>
Hakirya Jerusalem 91950<br>
Tel. 972-2-670-5555<br>
Fax 972-2-670-5475<br><br>
Ministry of Justice<br>
Daniel Friedmann<br>
Minister of Justice<br>
Salah-a-Din 29<br>
P.O. Box 49029<br>
Jerusalem 91490<br>
Tel. 972-2-646-6340, ext.321<br>
Fax 972-2-646-6357<br><br>
When you contact them, say you're concerned about this violence and something needs to be done about it. It may or may not have been caused by these radical Orthodox Jews. But, someone did it and they should be brought to justice.<br><br>
Also say that Israel's reputation as a liberal democracy is at stake if they turn a blind eye to this type of violence. And, remind them to stand with the evangelical community as the evangelical community has stood by them.<br><br>
I hope you join me in raising a voice of concern and support for believers in Israel!<br><br>
Next is the statement from the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem.<br><br>
ICEJ Urges Israeli Authorities to Pursue Perpetrators of Ariel Bombing<br><br>
Like so many others in Israel, the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem was shocked by the malicious bombing attack against a Christian pastor and his family in the town of Ariel on the eve of the Purim holiday last month. We did, however, refrain from any immediate reaction in hopes the police investigation would quickly identify those responsible for this appalling act, which left young Ami Ortiz severely injured and fighting for his life.<br><br>
It has now become clear that the Ortiz family was targeted because of their faith and ministry, and thus we must go on record as fully condemning this vicious attack as well as those who carried it out, whether Jewish or Arab.<br><br>
After regular consultations with the Ortiz family, we understand that the police investigation, while not ruling out Muslim involvement, has focused primarily on likely Jewish perpetrators. Israeli police have imposed a media blackout on details of their probe, but we are also informed that after nearly a month of investigation there are still no suspects.<br><br>
Thus, we urge Israeli authorities to take this criminal assault seriously and to commit all the resources, manpower and willpower necessary to see the investigation through to conclusion and to prosecute to the fullest those deemed responsible. The 'Purim gift basket bombing' has caught the attention of the Christian world and Israel needs to assure everyone that it is indeed a democracy that safeguards the rights and lives of its religious minorities.<br><br>
In this regard, we note that some local Israeli authorities have tended to overlook past harassment, intimidation and even physical violence against Messianic Jews carried out by Jewish anti-missionary activists, creating the impression abroad that such religious persecution is officially tolerated here. This must never be the case!<br><br>
Finally, we commend the community of Ariel for its embrace of the Ortiz family throughout this tragic ordeal, and we join with everyone in earnestly praying for Ami's full recovery and healing.<br><br>
For more information contact: David Parsons: 052-381-621; <a href="mailto:david.parsons@icej.org">david.parsons@icej.org</a>
</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305062008-04-10T07:00:00-06:002008-04-10T07:00:00-06:00Epicenter Conference l April 4, 2008New Video: 2008 Epicenter Conference<br><br>
David Ortiz: Is There Any Hope In Our Troubled World? An Israeli Perspective<br><br><iframe width="550" height="443" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" src="http://blip.tv/play/AbKWKgI.html?p=1"></iframe><embed style="display: none;" src="http://a.blip.tv/api.swf#AbKWKgI" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/305002008-03-30T07:00:00-06:002008-03-30T07:00:00-06:00Israel Today_March 30, 2008Publication: Israel Today<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: March 30, 2008<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Section: N/A<br>
Title: Shame<br>
Reporter: Tsvi Sadan<br>
Link: <a target="_new" href="http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=182&view=item&idx=1700&skintype=G&skinname=_default&skinsrc=printmodule.ascx&containertype=G&containername=_default&containersrc=printContent.ascx&mid=942">http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=182&view=item&idx=1700&skintype=G&skinname=_default&skinsrc=printmodule.ascx&containertype=G&containername=_default&containersrc=printContent.ascx&mid=942</a>
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Shame<br><br>
A suspected Orthodox Jewish bombing of a Messianic household in Israel marks an escalation that should make all Jews feel shame.<br><br>
During the feast of Purim it is customary to send “Purim gifts” to friends, neighbors and even total strangers. This lovely custom is in fact gleaned from the book of Esther. When the plan to annihilate the Jews was frustrated, the book records that the Jews started to “hold the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day for gladness and feasting, as a holiday, and as a day on which they send gifts of food to one another.” (Esther 9:19)<br><br>
The bomb that severely wounded young Ami Ortiz (15) on March 20 was camouflaged as a “Purim gift.”<br><br>
Ami is the youngest son of the Ortiz family who immigrated to Israel from the United States in 1986. David, Leah and their six children settled in the town of Ariel. Since their arrival David is working as an active Christian missionary. Leah, who shares her husband’s religious convictions, is Jewish and therefore, according to Jewish and Israeli law, her children are also Jewish. The family’s religious convictions labeled them as a “Messianic Jewish” family.<br><br>
In the eyes of most Israelis, the term “Messianic Jew” simply means “converted Jew,” which is significant because in Jewish memory (both distant and recent) not a few converted Jews turned out to be the Jews’ worst enemies. Therefore, antagonism toward those perceived to be engaging in attempts to convert the Jews to Christianity is understandable.<br><br>
However, the attempt to murder a missionary (most likely by Jewish extremists) goes beyond this antagonism and enters the ugly realm of hate crimes. Those who did this cowardly crime are most probably religious people who pray every morning: “To those who curse me, let my soul be silent; and let my soul be like dust to everyone.” Therefore, this kind of action is unjustifiable by any standard and certainly goes against the spirit of Judaism.<br><br>
This act of terror not only desecrates the name of God; it also puts Judaism under bad repute and even threatens to rile up anti-Semitic sentiments. This kind of action should not only be condemned but also put any decent Jew to shame. I am ashamed.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/304722008-03-28T07:00:00-06:002008-03-28T07:00:00-06:00USA_CBN_March 28, 2008TV Channel: CBN<br>
Program: Christian World News<br>
Title: Israeli Christian Boy Receives a Deadly Gift<br>
Country: USA<br>
Date: March 28, 2008<br>
Reporter: Chris Mitchell, CBN News Mideast Bureau Chief<br>
Running Time: N/A<br>
Link: <a target="_new" href="http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/344905.aspx">http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/344905.aspx</a><br>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/304822008-03-26T07:00:00-06:002008-03-26T07:00:00-06:00Ynet News_March 26, 2008Publication: Ynet News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: March 26, 2008<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Section: Israel Opinion<br>
Title: Sign of Jewish weakness/Israelis who target Messianic Jews apparently unsure of Judaism's strength<br>
Reporter: Yaron London<br>
Link: <a target="_new" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3522911,00.html">http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3522911,00.html</a>
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An undertone of acceptance, or at least a sense of understanding, found their way into reports on the assassination attempt that took place in Ariel earlier this week. A boy whose parents belong to the Messianic Jews movement opened a package that was placed near his door because he thought it was a Purim basket. An explosive device blew up and gravely wounded him.<br><br>
Under Attack<br>
Messianic Jews: We're subjected to harassment / Roni Gal<br>
Members of controversial Jewish sect speak out against ill treatment at hands of religious Jews in wake of blast that severely injured 15-year-old youth belonging to their community<br><a target="_new" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3521856,00.html">Full Story</a><br><br>
The police discounted the possibility of a Palestinian attack or the settling of scores between criminals. It tied the assassination attempt to the religious beliefs of family members. Neighbors noted that the family has been holding odd ceremonies at home and the mayor was quick to clear his town of the terrible suspicion that a missionary sect got a foothold there.<br><br>
News reports showed that the neighbors were more curious than they were shocked. It was clear that they sensed that harassing missionaries is a normal act. It should be condemned, but there is no reason to be surprised about it. One correspondent noted that a place with the presence of missionaries also has people who try to hurt them.<br><br>
Indeed, acts of violence and hateful publications against missionaries or those suspected of preaching conversion to Christianity are common phenomena around here and stem from our historical memories. Missionaries, and particularly converted Jews, did terrible things to us.<br><br>
Yet I am much more concerned by people who persecute those who present a hybrid of Judaism and Christianity and whose lifestyle and personal appearance have nothing that marks them as "others." We can turn to Nazi texts in order to understand why "others" who are very similar to us are perceived as more dangerous to the national entity than clearly marked enemies.<br><br>
I recalled the shock that overcomes us every time we discover a gang of wild and neglected Jewish boys who identify themselves as Nazis. Aren't those who targeted the Messianic Jewish family also of this ilk?<br><br>
Open market of ideas to competition <br>
I also recalled an incident that happened in France. About two years ago, a young Jewish man called Ilan Halimi was tortured and murdered by criminals who hoped to blackmail his family. When they were captured, it turned out that they were also motivated by primitive anti-Semitism. They were led by a son of African immigrants who accepted the common belief that all Jews are rich and should be robbed.<br><br>
France was shocked and all government ministers, headed by the president at the time, proceeded to pay a visit of condolences to the synagogue where the victim was eulogized. The Israeli press was impressed by the gesture, but at the same time its reports hinted to the common perception that anti-Semitism is a deeply rooted affliction in France and that such murders are a sort of cost paid by Jews living in the Diaspora.<br><br>
In order to be sure that we are no less sensitive than the French, our internal security minister would do well to visit the injured boy.<br><br>
I don't know who the would-be assassin was in this case, but we know that zealous ultra-Orthodox stand out among those who persecute missionaries. These people fail to understand that their violence is a sign of Judaism's weakness, rather than its strength. In a country where the life of gentiles is much tougher than the life of Jews and where a Jew cannot be forced to convert and cannot be tempted by promise that the gates of society will be opened to him if he does so, the market of ideas should be open to all competitors.<br><br>
Jews who fear competition and resort to gangster-like tricks in order to deter their competition are apparently unsure of the quality of their merchandise. We thought that the Jewish State will free us of this fear, yet again it turns out that a prisoner cannot free himself; the prison is within the soul.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/304962008-03-25T07:00:00-06:002008-03-25T07:00:00-06:00The Jerusalem Post_March 25, 2008Publication: The Jerusalem Post<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: March 25, 2008<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Section: Israel<br>
Title: Messianics: Attack on boy one of many<br>
Reporter: Matthew Wagner<br>
Link: <a target="_new" href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1205420768089&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull">http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1205420768089&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull</a>
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Members of the Messianic community in Israel said Monday that while the near-fatal attack last week on 15-year-old Ami Ortiz of Ariel marks a major escalation, it comes after years of anti-missionary violence directed at the community by both Jews and Muslims.<br><br>
"We get the feeling that nobody in Israel is willing to take a strong stand against violent anti-missionary activity," said Pastor Howard Bass, head of the Nahalat Yeshua [Jesus's Inheritance] Congregation in Beersheba.<br><br>
"We have experienced numerous attacks on the Messianic communities by haredim over the years," said Bass. "But there is very little sympathy for our plight."<br><br>
Ortiz was seriously wounded after a parcel bomb in the form of a Purim gift blew up in his face. Ortiz is the son of David Ortiz, a prominent Messianic Christian pastor.<br><br>
This was the most serious attack against the embattled Messianic community in Israel. Both Muslims and Orthodox Jews, who are vehemently opposed to Christian missionary activity, are suspected of sending the bomb.<br><br>
The Messianic community in Israel numbers about 15,000, spread out in roughly 120 congregations across the nation. The community members, who believe there is no contradiction between being Jewish and believing Jesus to have been the Savior and the Son of God, has been steadily growing, in large part due to proselytizing activities. About half of the community's membership was born Jewish.<br><br>
Bass, who was born Jewish, said that he saw the growth of the community of "believers" as another sign of the imminent second resurrection of the Messiah. He admitted that he shared his beliefs with his neighbors in the hope that he would influence them.<br><br>
"When I was involved with politics I tried to influence people's political views. Now I do the same thing with religion."<br><br>
Just this week Bass said that two surveillance cameras that monitor his house of prayer were stolen. Last Saturday, during prayers at the 100-strong congregation, a group of haredim stood outside and shouted, temporarily stopping the prayers.<br><br>
Beersheba has a history of tension between haredim and the Messianic community.<br><br>
In December 2005, just before Christmas, Bass's congregation was attacked by hundreds of haredi demonstrators who received the backing of the local rabbinic leadership. The demonstrators had heard rumors that busloads of Jewish children were to be baptized by the community.<br><br>
Calev Myers, founder and chief counsel of the Jerusalem Institute of Justice, an advocacy group that represents members of the Messianic community, said that the police did not press charges against the assailants who forced their way into the church and forcibly stopped the baptism of two Israelis. The intruders threw chairs around and pushed Bass into the baptismal pool, according to Myers.<br><br>
In Arad, another flashpoint for tension between the Messianic community and Orthodox Jews, the Chasdei Yeshua [Jesus's Loving-Kindness] Congregation, a tiny community of about 30, has been harassed repeatedly by the local Ger Hassidic community.<br><br>
Lura Beckford, a Chasdei Yeshua member whose husband Edwin is presently under house arrest for attacking an anti-missionary activist in Arad last month during a confrontation, said that there had been numerous confrontations over the years.<br><br>
"They've verbally attacked us on a regular basis and they even tried to burn down our chess club last February," said Beckford.<br><br>
Meanwhile, Pastor David Ortiz, speaking to The Jerusalem Post from Schneider Medical Center, where his son Ami is hospitalized in serious condition, said that since he came to Israel over 20 years ago he has been the target of violence, mostly by Muslims.<br><br>
"In the past, I have traveled into the neighboring Arab villages, which are all 100% Muslim, to distribute the whole Bible [Old and New Testament]," said Ortiz.<br><br>
"Recently, with the deterioration of the security situation I stand outside the villages explaining to people about Jesus. Or I pick up local Arabs who hitchhike and I give them a Bible. I tell them 'This is the history of your people.'"<br><br>
Ortiz said that he has been beaten up on at least one occasion by Palestinians from a neighboring village while distributing Bibles, and that a Molotov cocktail was once thrown at his car.<br><br>
In the mid-1990's the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Ekrima Said Sabri, issued a fatwa [religious order] calling to kill Ortiz.<br><br>
"The fatwa was even published in the Al Quds newspaper. I got a call from the US Embassy asking me to keep a low profile.<br><br>
"Luckily, I am still here, still ticking. But I live my life as if every day could be my last."<br><br>
Last November Isa Bajalia, an Arab-American evangelical pastor who works with Ortiz in proselytizing among Palestinians, told the Post that he was forced to flee his hometown of Ramallah after being threatened by a Palestinian security official.<br><br>
Bajalia, who was born in Birmingham, Alabama, was ministering to a group of 30 to 35 people in Ramallah and carrying out missionary work there.<br><br>
Ortiz said that he has also been exposed to mild anti-missionary campaigns initiated by Jews. Over the years pamphlets have been distributed in Ariel with his picture on them warning that Ortiz and others that belong to the Messianic community are "masquerading as Jews." But in general, Ortiz, who has brought significant Evangelical Christian financial support to Ariel, enjoys the backing of Ariel Mayor Ron Nachman.<br><br>
Rabbi Shalom Lipshitz, head of Yad Le'achim, the largest anti-missionary organization in Israel, said that he opposed all violent anti-missionary action. But he added that he saw the Messianic community as an enemy to the Jewish people.<br><br>
"There is no one who hates Jews more than they do," said Lipshitz. "They are trying to uproot Jewish faith, just like the Spanish did in the Inquisition. The only thing different is that these people cannot use physical force like the Spanish did. But they try to take advantage of the poor. They prey on Jews who do not know anything about Jewish heritage.<br><br>
"We try to explain the 'truth.' We try to tell people that you cannot be Jewish and believe in Jesus at the same time. It just doesn't go together.<br><br>
"Our job at Yad Le'achim is to make sure the Jewish people gets bigger, and fight people who are trying to make it smaller."</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/304892008-03-25T07:00:00-06:002008-03-25T07:00:00-06:00Christian Examiner_April 2008Publication: Christian Examiner<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: March 25, 2008<br>
Country: USA<br>
Section: N/A<br>
Title: Messianic pastor's son injured by bomb<br>
Reporter: Erin Roach<br>
Link: <a href="http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=27695" target="_new">http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=27695</a><br>
Link: <a href="http://www.christianexaminer.com/Articles/Articles%20Apr08/Art_Apr08_14.html" target="_new">http://www.christianexaminer.com/Articles/Articles%20Apr08/Art_Apr08_14.html</a><br><div style="text-align: justify;">
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Messianic pastor's son injured by bomb<br><br>
ARIEL, Israel — In one of the most serious attacks against the persecuted Messianic community in Israel, the 15-year-old son of a well-known Messianic pastor was severely injured March 20 when he opened a package delivered to the family's home that turned out to be a bomb.<br><br>
Ami Ortiz, the youngest son of David and Leah Ortiz of Ariel, endured seven hours of surgery to remove shrapnel from his body. He suffered second- and third-degree burns, damage to his right eye and a collapsed lung, according to e-mail updates circulated by Messianic believers in the area.<br><br>
Hannah Weiss, a close friend of the Ortiz family, described a conversation she had with the family's housekeeper a couple of days after the blast. The woman was distraught because she had retrieved the package from the doorstep and left the room only moments before Ami opened it.<br><br>
The package looked like a traditional food gift exchanged among Jews for Purim, a festive holiday celebrating victory over oppression. A label on the package said "Happy Purim" in Hebrew, Weiss recounted, and was decorated with smiling faces and colorful letters. The top half was transparent cellophane with chocolates inside, she wrote in an e-mail released to Baptist Press.<br><br>
Part of the family's apartment was destroyed in the blast, and Messianic believers are rallying to make repairs. Friends have said it is impossible to look at the apartment and believe that Ami survived the bombing, and doctors apparently have used the word "miracle" several times regarding his status.<br><br>
David Ortiz, in an article by The Jerusalem Post March 23, gave an update on his son's condition.<br><br>
"His neck had an eight-inch gash like someone slit his throat. He has a ruptured lung. Doctors had to operate on his tongue. He has second-degree burns to his chest and arms, and there is no flesh on the thighs," Ortiz said, adding that doctors amputated two of Ami's toes. "They're trying to continue to make sure that he won't lose his arms and legs. His whole body is full of fragments of shrapnel."<br><br>
Police are investigating the crime, and the two groups under suspicion are Arab terrorists and anti-missionary Orthodox Jews, according to various reports. A Palestinian group called the Al Aksa Brigade claimed responsibility on Arab TV, but Weiss said the group has been known to make fictitious claims in order to boost their popularity.<br><br>
Jim Sibley, a professor at Criswell College in Dallas and a former missionary to Israel, noted the paradox that exists in a region known for religious strife which largely rejects Jesus as Savior.<br><br>
"Both Islam and Judaism, especially in their more orthodox expressions, really fear an open marketplace when it comes to religious ideas," Sibley, who knew Ortiz from his time in Israel, told Baptist Press. "This violence is born out of that fear. And yet it's this message of the Gospel that provides the only hope for people in the area."<br><br>
The Jerusalem Post, in its coverage of the bombing, identified David Ortiz as "a prominent Christian pastor," "well-known in Ariel," where he has lived with his wife and six sons for more than a decade. The Post said Ortiz "works mainly with Palestinians in the West Bank, encouraging them to convert to Christianity."<br><br>
In the mid-1990s the terrorist group Hamas issued a death threat against Ortiz for preaching the Gospel to Palestinian Muslims, and the U.S. Embassy asked him to keep a low profile. The family has been the object of repeated harassment by Orthodox Jews, many of whom live in Ariel near the Ortiz home. Ortiz has been beaten up at least once by Palestinians from a neighboring village while distributing Bibles, and a Molotov cocktail was thrown at his car, The Post reported.<br><br>
"I live my life as if every day could be my last," Ortiz said.<br><br>
Whoever is responsible for the bombing, Weiss marveled at the outpouring of response from believers around the world who have prayed for the Ortiz family and at the blessings that were evident in the midst of tragedy.<br><br>
"The scene at the hospital last night, outside the intensive care unit, was more like a party than a vigil — believers coming and going, a table of food and drink, Ami's parents mingling and joking," Weiss wrote March 25. "There are a lot of challenges ahead for the boy and his family, and there are still potential dangers, but for now we can't help but celebrate."<br><br>
Ami is improving each day, Weiss reported, and though he remains in a medically induced coma, doctors are slowly lowering the doses of anesthesia. They have not yet been able to remove all of the metal bolts that pierced both lungs and they're awaiting results on his injured eye.<br><br>
One of Ami's older brothers who served in the Israeli army was interviewed on a local television station about the attack, Weiss said. The camera didn't show his face or give his full name in order to protect him, but the woman who conducted the interview mentioned Messianic Jews a couple of times, portraying the group as victims of needless violence.<br><br>
Some Messianics may hope the bombing at the Ortiz home will turn public opinion regarding believers who have long been harassed in Israel. Howard Bass, head of a Messianic congregation in Beersheba, told The Jerusalem Post that in the past there has been "very little sympathy for our plight."<br><br>
"We get the feeling that nobody in Israel is willing to take a strong stand against violent anti-missionary activity," Bass said in an article March 25.<br>
Just before Christmas in 2005, Bass' congregation was attacked by hundreds of demonstrators who received the backing of the local rabbinic leadership, The Post said. Another Messianic believer, Edwin Beckford, is under house arrest. Last fall, arsonists set fire to Jerusalem's Narkis Street Baptist Church, which sustained minor damage.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/304862008-03-25T07:00:00-06:002008-03-25T07:00:00-06:00CBN_March 25, 2008Publication: CBN<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: March 25, 2008<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Section: Jerusalem Dateline<br>
Title: Update on Ami Ortiz<br>
Reporter: Chris Mitchell, CBN News Middle East Bureau Chief<br>
Link: <a target="_new" href="http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/345106.aspx">http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/345106.aspx</a>
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Last Thursday, Ami Ortiz, the son of David Ortiz, an Israeli pastor came home to his Ariel home and opened a holiday package. After all, it was Purim and many people send gifts at this time of year.<br><br>
Purim celebrates the deliverance of the Jews from Haman's plan to annihilate them. In Hebrew, these holiday gifts are called "mishlo'ach manot.' Like most brightly decorated packages at this time of year, Ami thought it was a gift. Instead it was a bomb.<br><br>
The force of the blast was so strong; it shattered car windows three stories below the Ortiz apartment. The explosion tore at Ami's young 15-ear-old frame. He suffered major injuries including second and third degree burns, shrapnel in one lung and wounds from head to toe.<br><br>
At first, doctors warned Ami's parents, David and Leah, that their youngest child of six might not survive. However, early Friday morning, he experienced what even the doctors called a "miracle" turnaround. However, he still has a long road to recovery.<br><br>
The accompanying video is the news report we've produced on this tragic terror attack. I hope you can view it for yourself.<br><br>
Ami's father, David is well known to CBN News. We first met David about ten years ago when he spoke out on behalf of a Palestinian Christian who was being tortured by the Palestinian Authority for his new found faith in Jesus.<br><br>
David has spent years sharing his faith with many Palestinian Arabs, often at the risk of his own life. David is one of the most courageous men of God I have the privilege to know. He's had a death threat in the form of an Islamic religious edict pronounced against him and intimidating threats from ultra-religious Jews.<br><br>
Despite this, he continues to share his faith for "whomever will." At this time, I would encourage believers around the world to lift up David, his wife Leah, Ami and his entire family at this time.<br><br>
Here are some specific prayer requests:<br><br>
* Ami needs prayer for the full restoration of his body.<br>
* Prayer for those responsible to be brought to justice.<br>
* Prayer for the Ortiz family to be strengthened and encouraged in the Lord.<br>
* Prayer that what the enemy meant for evil would be turned around for good</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/304812008-03-24T07:00:00-06:002008-03-24T07:00:00-06:00The Jerusalem Post_March 24, 2008Publication: The Jerusalem Post<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: March 24, 2008<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Section: Israel<br>
Title: Anti-missionaries suspected in attack<br>
Reporter: Yaakov Lappin<br>
Link: <a target="_new" href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1205420759947">http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1205420759947</a>
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Police investigating the sending of a package which exploded in the home of a Christian pastor in Ariel are leaning toward the theory that a Jewish anti-missionary was behind the attack, the preacher told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.<br><br>
David Oritz's 16-year-old son, Ami, sustained serious injuries in the blast, after opening the package, which was made to look like a Purim gift.<br><br>
"They [the police], as far as I understand, do not suspect Palestinian terrorism. They suspect a Jewish anti-missionary motive," Oritz told the Post by phone from his Ariel home, minutes after returning from the hospital.<br><br>
"At the start of the investigation, they went in the direction of Palestinian terrorism. Now they're going in the other direction," he added.<br><br>
Judea and Samaria Police spokesman Ch.-Supt. Dani Poleg said he could not comment on the investigation due to a court-imposed media blackout, in force since Friday.<br><br>
Ami's life was no longer in danger, his father said, but he was still suffering from serious injuries all over his body.<br><br>
"His neck had an eight-inch [20-cm.] gash like someone slit his throat. He has a ruptured lung. Doctors had to operate on his tongue. He has second-degree burns to his chest and arms, and there is no flesh on the thighs," Oritz said, adding that doctors were forced to amputate two toes. "They're trying to continue to make sure that he won't lose his arms and legs. His whole body is full of fragments of shrapnel," he said.<br><br>
Oritz described the moments after the explosion when the teenager's mother, Leah, "saw flames coming out of the windows after going downstairs to throw out the garbage." After running upstairs, Leah saw "her son on the floor. She held his neck and she kept the wound closed with her hands." Using her paramedic training, "she made a hole so he could breathe. Then the ambulance driver who arrived kept him alive. When we got to hospital, he was operated on in five places," Oritz said, adding that he considered his son's recovery to be "a miracle." Oritz's Jewish-born wife, Leah, is a member of Jews for Jesus. The pastor says dozes of families in Ariel have been influenced by his teachings. "We have about 50 families," he declared.<br><br>
He described a long history of tensions with anti-missionary activists in Ariel, which included flyers and a petition calling for the family to leave the city.<br><br>
"My neighbor said he had been told by religious Jews that if we were the only ones living in this building, they would have bombed it," Oritz said. "When we first came into this town, the rabbi visited us and told me I was not allowed to talk about Yeshua [Jesus] outside of my apartment. I told him that as far I know, this is not a crime in this country. This is a democratic country, people can say whatever they want outside their house," Oritz said.<br><br>
"They put posters all over town warning residents to keep away from us and calling for us to be excommunicated, and there was a demonstration in front of our house. If all my neighbors had signed the petition calling on us to leave, I would have to leave by law. Some of my neighbors refused to sign," he added.<br><br>
Four of Oritz's children have completed their military service in the IDF, he said. "I have served in the reserves for 15 years. I was shot at and stoned in Nablus. All of my children went to school here, they are normal children, we are normal people. Ami is the captain of his school basketball team."<br><br>
Rabbi Dov Lifshitz, chairman of the Yad L'Achim anti-missionary organization, said he doubted that Jews were behind the bombing.<br><br>
"Someone who thinks logically will not do this. It just harms the struggle. I'm sure this is not connected to the anti-missionary cause," he told the Post.<br><br>
If the culprit is Jewish, the bomber "is either crazy or does not understand the struggle," Lifshitz added.<br><br>
He estimated that Christian missionaries have succeeded in converting around 15,000 Jews to Christianity in Israel, adding that the missionaries target those "without defense - people ignorant of Judaism, such as Russian immigrants, and the lonely. This is why they succeeded, in a Jewish state, unbelievably. They have 120 branches in Israel," he said, blaming the Jewish Agency and the government for failing to provide a Jewish education to new immigrants.<br><br>
"We are now pushing for legislation that would make it illegal for members of any religion to try and convert others to their faith," Lifshitz said. "Our struggle isn't against anyone. What we're saying is, we are Jews. Let us be Jews. Christians should remain Christians. In our 50 years of activity, we've never had any violence. We have a big argument with messianic Jews, but that doesn't include violence," Lifshitz said.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/304782008-03-24T07:00:00-06:002008-03-24T07:00:00-06:00Haaretz_March 24, 2008<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: Haaretz<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: March 24, 2008<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Section: N/A<br>
Title: Loving Jesus, fearing the neighbors in Ariel <br>
Reporter: Yair Ettinger, Haaretz Correspondent<br>
Link: <a target="_new" href="http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/967598.html">http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/967598.html</a><br><br>
Police and sappers were once again dispatched to Ariel's IDF Street during the Purim holiday Friday morning. A few minutes earlier, a man had knocked on the door of the Leibovitz family home and left a cardboard box with the boy who answered the door. "It's mishloach manot, a Purim gift basket," explained the visitor before disappearing.<br><br>
The boy and his older brother trembled with fear. Their parents, who were out of town, ordered the boys by phone to get away from the package and call the police. In another residential building, 50 meters away, a bomb planted in a Purim gift basket had exploded the day before.<br><br>
"This is not hysteria; it is alertness," police told the two boys after they finally opened the box to reveal candy and other treats from the ultra-Orthodox Chabad movement in honor of the holiday.<br>
Advertisement<br>
This is only one example of the tension that has gripped city residents after the booby-trapped gift basket injured a boy on Thursday. Those who were most frightened were members of a tiny, almost secretive community that operates in that Ariel building, among other sites in Israel; the "Messianic Jews." The group had experienced occasional harassment in the form of hostile fliers and demonstrations against Christian missionary groups. But the police investigation into the explosion indicates that they now must also fear religious-based terror.<br><br>
While sappers dismantled the Chabad package in the neighboring building, several members of the Messianic Jewish community were cleaning up the apartment where the bomb had gone off a day earlier: shattered windows, a splintered dining room table, holes in the walls and the ceiling, and dried blood stains. They refused to speak to the press, and only one person agreed, despite his friends' protests, to permit Haaretz to enter the scene of a crime motivated by untold loathing.<br><br>
"The same people who hounded that family might find me tomorrow," one man said, describing his fear and reluctance to be identified. He comes to this home weekly to meet and pray with about 20 other men and women. Most are from the United States, but some are from the former Soviet Union and others, like the man who spoke to us, are native Israelis. He said he was a member of several religious cults before he "saw the light" while reading the New Testament seven years ago.<br><br>
Only half of the local community is from Ariel, he said, adding that there are a few thousand Messianic Jews in Israel who "believe in the Torah of Israel and the God of Israel, and that Jesus, who was a Jew, had no intention of creating a new religion. We accept Jesus as the Messiah. We accept the Old Testament and the New Testament as its continuation."<br><br>
The parents of the boy who was wounded in the explosion immigrated to Israel under the Law of Return; as Jews; before they founded the congregation in Ariel. The congregation meets weekly on the two upper floors of a typical residential building. But surveillance cameras, installed two years ago after antagonistic fliers were distributed in the area, bear witness to the threat the members feel. The family that received the bomb in a gift basket lives in one wing of the complex. Another wing, which has a wooden floor, plastic chairs and tables, and locked shutters, is dedicated to the group's weekly meetings. A wall hanging embroidered with the phrase "Peace in Israel" is flanked by a bulletin board and a schedule of events.<br><br>
"The events that take place here are not underground; it's an open thing," the speaker explained.<br><br>
Is it a mission?<br><br>
"That depends on the nature of the people involved. Some tend to tell others about their beliefs, and others don't. I think it's very positive to tell, but I can't persuade you to accept our belief. This is an intimate, family place."<br><br>
"As a congregation, it was nice to remain anonymous until now. But here you can see how many people hate and fear us," he said. "We are not a cult. We see ourselves as law-observing Jews and Israelis. One of our most important values is loyalty to the state of Israel, obeying the law and serving in the army. Many congregation members, including the brother of the boy who was hurt, serve in elite combat units."<br><br>
The Ariel congregation had intended to celebrate Purim on Saturday, the day of their weekly meeting. Instead, they held a prayer service at the Schneider Children's Medical Center, where the wounded boy is hospitalized. "People from other congregations came and brought food. We sang and prayed together. While this is very difficult and unpleasant, hardships strengthen and unite people. It strengthens the parents to continue fearlessly. We told them that hate is vanquished by love."</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/304942008-03-23T07:00:00-06:002008-03-23T07:00:00-06:00The Jerusalem Post_September 23, 2008Publication: The Jerusalem Post<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: September 23, 2008<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Section: International<br>
Title: US report: Rise in violence against Messianic Jews and Christians<br>
Reporter: Matthew Wagner<br>
Link: <a target="_new" href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1222017370992&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull">http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1222017370992&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull</a><br><div style="text-align: justify;">
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[Excerpts]<br><br>
Violence against Christian evangelical and Messianic Jewish communities in Israel increased significantly during the period between July 1, 2007 and June 30, 2008, according to the US State Department's Annual Report on International Religious Freedom.<br><br>
The report, released last week, put blame for the "tensions" on "certain Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities."<br><br>
In a particularly violent incident that place on Purim (March 20) 15-year-old Ami Ortiz, a dual American-Israeli citizen and the son of a Messianic Jewish pastor, was seriously wounded when a bomb exploded in his home in Ariel. The bomb was concealed in a Purim gift basket placed on the doorstep of the boy's home.<br><br>
Christians close to the case said that the primary suspect was Jewish but police said they had not ruled out the possibility that the assailant was a Palestinian. Ortiz's father David was active as a missionary among Palestinians near Ariel. <br><br>
Calev Myers, head of the Jerusalem Institute of Justice (JIJ), a legal advocacy group for religious rights that represents mostly evangelical Christians and Messianic Jews, said that Israeli authorities are not doing enough to fight violence directed against these groups.<br><br>
"Months after the bombing incident in Ariel against Ami the police still have no clue who is responsible," said Myers.<br><br>
In response, a spokesman for the Judea and Samaria Police, which is responsible for investigating the bombing, said that "no stones are being left unturned.<br><br>
"All relevant police departments are continuing to thoroughly investigate the incident," said the spokesman. "However, due to the nature of the crime, the success of the investigation depends on secrecy."<br><br>
The State Department also mentioned claims by the JIJ that the Interior Ministry refused to process immigration applications from persons entitled to citizenship under the Law of Return if it was determined such persons held Christian or Messianic Jewish religious beliefs.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/304742008-03-22T07:00:00-06:002008-03-22T07:00:00-06:00Associated Press_March 22, 2008<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: Associated Press<br>
Type: News/Online<br>
Date: March 22, 2008<br>
Country: USA<br>
Section:N/A<br>
Title: Bomb Targets Pastor's Home; Injures Son <br>
Reporter: N/A<br><br>
JERUSALEM (AP) - The teenage son of a Christian pastor was seriously wounded when a package bomb delivered to the family's West Bank home went off in his hands, Israeli officials said Friday.<br><br>
Police wouldn't release further details on Thursday's explosion or discuss possible motives. The boy's brother, reached by telephone at the family's home in the Jewish settlement of Ariel, confirmed the bombing but declined to elaborate.<br><br>
Israeli media speculated that the bomb — apparently delivered in one of the gift baskets Jews exchange on the Purim holiday that began Thursday night — might have been directed at the family's Christian missionary activities.<br><br>
Israeli authorities and Orthodox Jews frown on missionary activity aimed at Jews, and some Muslims are angered by efforts to convert Muslims to Christianity.<br><br>
News reports identified the injured youth as Amiel Ortiz, son of David Ortiz, a missionary who leads a small Christian congregation in Ariel.<br><br>
"He is in serious condition, still unconscious and hooked up to a respirator," Dr. Efrat Har-Lev of Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva told Channel 10 TV. "He has shrapnel all over his body, and one of his eyes was hurt."<br><br>
She said his prospects for recovery were good because of his youth.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/304832008-03-21T07:00:00-06:002008-03-21T07:00:00-06:00Ynet News_March 21, 2008Publication: Ynet News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: March 21, 2008<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Section: Israel News<br>
Title: Messianic Jews: We're subjected to harassment<br>
Reporter: Roni Gal<br>
Link: <a target="_new" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3521856,00.html">http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3521856,00.html</a><br><div style="text-align: justify;">Messianic Jews: We're subjected to harassment<br><br>
Members of controversial Jewish sect speak out against ill treatment at hands of religious Jews in wake of blast that severely injured 15-year-old youth belonging to their community<br><br>
Police are pushing ahead with the investigation into the explosion that wounded a 15-year-old youth in Ariel on Thursday. The explosive device is believed to have been concealed in a gift basket similar to those traditionally exchanged during the Purim holiday. The youth, who belongs to a family of Messianic Jews, is still hospitalized in serious condition at the Beilinson hospital in Petah Tikvah and underwent major surgery well into the early hours of Friday morning. Doctors were forced to sever one of his limbs and warn his eyesight is still in danger.<br><br>
The Messianic Jewish community has voiced its outrage after initial reports linked the cause of the attack to the youth's religious affiliation. Some are now saying that the community has long since been subjected to harassment by religious Jews.<br><br>
Ariel Explosion<br>
Boy hurt in blast; cult involvement suspected / Raanan Ben-Zur<br>
Ariel teen severely injured after opening package he believed was Purim basket; Police investigating all possible leads, including cult involvement<br><a target="_new" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3521692,00.html">Full Story</a><br><br>
The explosion occurred around 2:30 pm on Thursday and Magen David Adom medics as well as police officers were immediately dispatched to the scene. Yarkon Area MDA medic, Nir Katua, said that the teen sustained severe neck injuries.<br><br>
Chief Superintendent Mark Amiel reported that the police department “considers this case a criminal investigation and is examining all possible leads in this matter, including the suspected involvement of a cult.”<br><br>
"All Messianic Jewish communities are still in shock and pain over the incident," Roni, a family friend, said. "The feeling is really difficult right now. The most important thing is that the youth come out of the operating room and the second thing is that we hope that they will catch the person who did this and condemn the phenomenon."<br><br>
Roni, also a member of the sect, accompanied the injured teen to the hospital. "Messianic Jews suffer a lot of harassment and from other types of violence – burning down meeting places, pestering (us) at home, the publishing of announcements with featuring our pictures and more."<br><br>
Roni also said that the primary danger threatening the members of the community came from extremist religious organizations – Muslim and Jewish. "There is always a danger from the religious perspective but the question is: Where does it come from?<br><br>
"We would really like to believe that it doesn't come from Judaism. Every Messianic Jew is a target for radical Jews and in the past Messianic Jewish synagogues have even been burned down in Israel.<br><br>
'Dehumanization in newspapers'<br><br>
Caleb Meyers, the representative of the messianic Jewish community in Israel, explains that: "There is a campaign of harassment against the Messianic Jewish community by radical religious organizations that are trying to create dehumanization – especially in religious newspapers."<br><br>
Meyers explains that the messianic community, which numbers about 15,000 people in Israel, "sees itself as a legitimate branch of Judaism. The central belief is that the messianic branch is influenced by the Old Testament as well as the New. It's a bridge between the Jewish and Christian worlds and harassment comes from this because it threatens the worldview of extremist religious bodies that want to uniquely define who is a Jew."<br><br>
According to Meyers, "the teen that was hit was the youngest in a family of six brothers who all served in elite units in the IDF. The vast majority of messianic Jews are drafted into the military."</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/304792008-03-21T07:00:00-06:002008-03-21T07:00:00-06:00Haaretz and Channel 10_March 21, 2008<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: Haaretz and Channel 10<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: March 21, 2008<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Section: N/A<br>
Title: News / Ariel boy seriously hurt by bomb he mistook for Purim gift <br>
Reporter: Haaretz Staff and Channel 10<br>
Links: <a target="_new" href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/966685.html">http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/966685.html</a><br><br>
Haaretz.com/Channel 10 news roundup for March 20, 2008.<br><br>
In this edition:<br><br>
A 15-year-old Ariel resident is seriously wounded by a pipe bomb he thought was a purim gift basket.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/304982008-03-20T07:00:00-06:002008-03-20T07:00:00-06:00Israel Today_March 20, 2008Publication: Israel Today<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: March 20, 2008<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Section: Headline News<br>
Title: Pastor's son wounded by bomb in Ariel<br>
Reporter: Staff Writer<br>
Link: <a target="_new" href="http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=15517">http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=15517</a>
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Pastor's son wounded by bomb in Ariel<br><br>
The son of a Christian minister living in the Samarian Jewish town of Ariel was seriously wounded on Thursday when an explosion rocked his home as he opened a Purim gift basket that was left on the family's doorstep.<br><br>
Police officials said that the 15-year-old boy suffered severe shrapnel wounds to the neck, and was rushed into emergency surgery at a nearby Israeli hospital.<br><br>
The boy's parents, David and Leah Ortiz, operate an outreach ministry to Palestinian Arab Muslims in the area. The family has received death threats from Muslims in the past for their efforts to convince local Arabs to abandon Islam.<br><br>
The family enjoys a close relationship with Ariel Mayor Ron Nachman, who has for years been at the forefront of strengthening ties between Bible-believing Christians and those Jews who have answered the biblical call to settle Israel's heartland.<br><br>
In other violence, Palestinian forces operating out of the Gaza Strip fired at least four rockets at Jewish towns in southern Israel on Thursday. One landed just outside an Israeli kibbutz, damaging several homes on the periphery of the community. There were no injuries reported in the attacks.<br><br>
Back in Samaria, Arab assailants on Thursday evening hurled firebombs at Jewish motorists not far from the Palestinian Authority-controlled town of Nablus. Again, no injuries were reported.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/304842008-03-20T07:00:00-06:002008-03-20T07:00:00-06:00Ynet News_March 20, 2008Publication: Ynet News<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: March 20, 2008<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Section: Israel News<br>
Title: Boy hurt in blast; cult involvement suspected<br>
Reporter: Raanan Ben-Zur<br>
Link: <a target="_new" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3521692,00.html">http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3521692,00.html</a>
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Boy hurt in blast; cult involvement suspected<br><br>
Ariel teen severely injured after opening package he believed was Purim basket; Police investigating all possible leads, including cult involvement<br><br>
Is a cult responsible for an explosion that severely wounded an Ariel teen? The 15-year-old teenager opened a package that he believed was a Purim gift Thursday, and was severely wounded in the intense explosion that followed.<br><br>
Ariel police said they are investigating all possible leads on this incident, including the suspected involvement of a cult. Investigators are looking into the possibility that the attack is related to that fact that the boy's parents are messianic Jews. <br><br>
The explosion occurred around 2:30 pm local time, and Magen David Adom medics as well as police officers were immediately dispatched to the scene. Yarkon Area MDA medic, Nir Katua, said that the teen sustained severe neck injuries. Chief Yarkon area medic Gil Moskowitz asid the teen was treated for injuries to the head, neck and chest.<br><br>
Police at crime scene (Photo: Channel 10 News)<br><br>
After initial treatment by MDA medics, the teen was transported to Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva, where he was immediately anesthetized and sent to surgery. The bomb squad was dispatched to the teen’s home in order to examine the explosive device. <br><br>
Chief Superintendent Mark Amiel reported that the police department “considers this case a criminal investigation and is examining all possible leads in this matter, including the suspected involvement of a cult.”<br><br>
The chief superintended also said “the explosion occurred inside the apartment, and the bomb squad is examining the explosives involved. The teen found the package outside his door, and was subsequently severely injured. He is currently in surgery and we wish him a speedy recovery.”<br><br>
Neither the teen nor his family have a criminal record of any kind. <br><br><i>Efrat Weiss contributed to this article </i>
</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/304802008-03-20T07:00:00-06:002008-03-20T07:00:00-06:00Haaretz_March 20, 2008<div style="text-align: justify;">Publication: Haaretz<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: March 20, 2008<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Section: N/A<br>
Title: Ariel teen seriously wounded by explosion in his house<br>
Reporter: Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondent<br>
Link: <a target="_new" href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/966623.html">http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/966623.html</a><br><br>
A fifteen year old boy from Ariel was seriously wounded Thursday by shrapnel that lodged in his back after an explosion in his house.<br><br>
The boy was taken to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikvah in serious condition.<br><br>
Police are investigating the possibility that the explosion occurred while the boy was opening a Purim gift basket. Police reportedly believe the blast was caused by some sort of firecracker used during Purim celebrations.<br>
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The Parents of the victim are members of the Messianic Jews movement, which the police classify as a cult. The boy's father is considered to be one of the movement's leaders. Police were investigating reports that the family had been targeted before for their affiliation with the group.<br><br>
After previous attempts to harm the family, a security camera was installed at the family's home. The police were checking the footage to see whether the explosion was documented by the cameras. The police emphasized that there was no proof to support the theory that the explosion was deliberate and malicious.</div>The Ami Ortiz Storytag:amiortiz.org,2005:Post/304772008-03-20T07:00:00-06:002008-03-20T07:00:00-06:00The Jerusalem Post_March 20, 2008<div style="text-align: left;">Publication: The Jerusalem Post<br>
Type: Online<br>
Date: March 20, 2008<br>
Country: Israel<br>
Section: Israel<br>
Title: Son of Ariel pastor injured in blast<br>
Reporter: Rebecca Anna Stoil<br>
Link: <a target="_new" href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1205420741251">http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1205420741251</a>
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The 16-year-old son of a prominent Christian pastor, David Ortiz, was seriously wounded in Ariel on Thursday by a powerful explosion in his home.<br>
The scene of Thursday's...<br><br>
The scene of Thursday's explosion in Ariel.<br>
Photo: Channel 2<br>
SLIDESHOW: Israel & Region | World<br><br>
The youth was alone at the time and suffered shrapnel injures and burns to his neck and chest.<br><br>
The bomb, which was apparently in a Purim gift basket, also caused extensive damage to the family's apartment.<br><br>
Judea and Samaria Police spokesman Ch.-Supt. Dani Poleg said police had not ruled out any motive - including that radical Jews or Muslims may have targeted the family.<br><br>
The boy was rushed to the Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Campus in Petah Tikva in serious condition.<br><br>
Before he was sedated, one paramedic said, he managed to say that the explosion took place when he tried to open a package that had arrived at the apartment. The initial police investigation indicated that the family's maid had found the package outside and brought it in.<br><br>
The boy's parents, David and Leah Ortiz, are well-known in Ariel, where they have been living for more than a decade.<br><br>
David Ortiz works mainly with Palestinians in the West Bank, encouraging them to convert to Christianity.<br><br>
Ortiz, said one acquaintance, had received death threats from Muslims angered by his missionary efforts. A number of his followers have been beaten up and jailed by Palestinian Authority officials.<br><br>
Ortiz has a close relationship with Ariel Mayor Ron Nachman, who has actively pursued strengthening the town's connections with overseas Christian groups.<br><br>
David and his wife, Leah, described by a neighbor as a Jewish believer in Jesus, also lead a congregation of a few dozen Christians in Ariel. Neighbors said that around a year-and-a-half ago, flyers were circulated in the family's neighborhood, with pictures of a number of Ariel residents, including David Ortiz, warning residents that the people portrayed were engaged in missionary activities directed at the town's Jews.<br><br>
Due to concerns about the family's security, cameras were installed at the apartment, and were in place at the time of the explosion.</div>The Ami Ortiz Story