The trial of Nathan Friedman-Yellin, Sternist chief, and his deputy, Matatiahu Shaulevitz, the first political trial in Israel’s history, opened before a military court in Acre today with the defendants handling their own defense and Max Seligman, their lawyer and one of the most prominent attorneys in the country, acting as advisor.
The Sternists are charged with directing and organizing terrorist activities and membership in a terrorist organization from September 29, 1948 on. The Stern Group was outlawed as a terrorist organization twelve days after the assassination of Count Folke Bernadotte by members of an offshoot of the Sternist movement. The defense will call 25 witnesses, including Premier David Ben Gurion, Minister of Interior Itzhak Gruenhaum and Army Chief of Staff Yacov Dori.
Hoter Ishai, chief military prosecutor, told the court that it holds the power of deciding whether the law banning terrorist organization is valid. Its action will serve as a precedent in the trial of other Sternists, he said.
A minor panic was caused at today’s proceedings when a photographer’s flashbulb exploded. Both guards and civilians in the court threw themselves on the floor. The courthouse is surrounded by three concentric circles of barbed wire, many soldiers surround the building and its accesses and all roads in the neighborhood are blocked by barricades and armored vehicles.
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.
