Yehuda Cohen, one of 27 indicted members of a Jewish terrorist underground, was sentenced today to three-and-a-half years in prison for his part in a conspiracy to blow up Islamic shrines on the Temple Mount.
Cohen, who confessed to the conspiracy charge, will serve 18 months in jail. Two years of his sentence were suspended by Judge Ezra Hadaya of the Jerusalem District Court who called the offense “shockingly grave” and a threat to public peace and safety.
In pronouncing sentence, Hadaya said:”This offense was committed because of an extreme and fanatic ideological motive and because of belief that the end justifies the means. “Cohen, 25, one of the few terrorist suspects released on bail, said he would appeal his sentence to the Supreme Court.
TWO SUSPECTED TERRORISTS ON WANTED LIST
Meanwhile, the police have posted “wanted” notices for two suspected members of the terrorist underground still at large. They are Ira Rappaport, a Gush Emunim emissary to the United States, and Yossi Indor of the West Bank settlement of Ofra.
Indor is believed hiding out in Israel. Rappaport is said to be in the U.S. but his associates in New York disclaim knowledge of his whereabouts. The Jerusalem Post reported today that the Israeli police have asked the FBI for help in tracking him down.
Twenty-two of the indicted suspects pleaded not guilty when their trial opened on June 17. It was suspended after two weeks, to be resumed in September when the court reconvenes after summer recess. In an unrelated case, a Tel Aviv district court today released on bail Ephraim Siegal, a Jewish settler on the West Bank suspected of murdering an II year-old Arab girl in Nablus last year. He is barred from entering Nablus.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
