A gang of serial rapists has
been prowling the North, raping Jewish women as revenge for IDF actions
in the West Bank, police revealed Tuesday after arresting six suspects.
"We are raping Jews because of what the IDF is doing to the Palestinians
in the territories," one of the six suspects told investigators from
the Northern District Central Investigative Unit (CIU) during
questioning. During their questioning and their brief appearance at the
Nazareth Magistrate's Court Tuesday, none of the four main suspects
indicated that they felt remorse for their actions.
Police said they were aware of four attacks carried out by the gang, but
they believed there were probably other incidents that had gone
unreported by the victims.
In all four cases, police said, the rapists' modus operandi were
strikingly similar - all of the attacks were directed against young
women who were waiting at bus stops or designated hitchhiking points in
the western Galilee and the Haifa area.
In all of the cases, the attackers forced their victim into a car and
drove together with the victim to an isolated spot, where they raped
her.
All of the suspects are from the Galilee town of Bir al-Maksur, a Beduin
village near the Hamovil Junction. The last of the four known rapes was
carried out in a forested area just outside of the village.
The first attack occurred in April 2005, when a 13-year-old girl was
raped at the Zevulun Beach in Kiryat Yam. In December of that year, a
19-year-old soldier was kidnapped and raped just outside of Kiryat Ata.
According to police, the gang attacked again three days later. In that
assault, the gang allegedly kidnapped a 16-year-old girl who was
standing with her friends at the Kiryon Junction in Kiryat Bialik. They
allegedly took her to a grove near Tamra, where they raped her.
It was after the third attack, commander of the Northern District CIU
Asst.-Cmdr. Menahem Haver said, that the police realized they were
dealing with a serial rape gang. In that case, the teenage victim told
investigators that one of her attackers told her the attack was in
revenge for IDF operations in the Gaza Strip.
Investigators managed to gather DNA from two of the crime scenes and
began to search for potential suspects who fit the victims'
descriptions. Haver said police approached around 170 youths who fit the
descriptions offered by the victims, and elicited DNA samples from the
suspects. Police said one of the tests appeared to offer a match to DNA
found at one of the crime scenes.
But while police were investigating the first three attacks, the rapists
struck again.
In November 2006, police say, the gang struck close to home, abducting
and raping a 25-year-old woman who was standing at a bus stop on the
outskirts of Bir al-Maksur.
At one point, police set up checkpoints and ambushes at intersections
that they suspected the gang might frequent. At one of those
checkpoints, police officers noticed an old, white car that resembled
the car described by the victims. When the car approached the police
checkpoint, its driver made a quick U-turn across an unbroken yellow
line.
But police noticed the suspicious vehicle and initiated an undercover
surveillance, following the vehicle back to Bir al-Maksur.
The suspects' arrests were released for publication by the Nazareth
Magistrate's Court, which also extended the four key suspects' remands
by 10 days. The remand of an additional suspect was extended by five
days. A young woman from the village who is suspected of collaborating
with the suspects was released on restricted terms.
The arrest of six residents of the village shocked the locals, who said
the police's suggestion that the crimes were committed for anti-Israel
reasons stirred up emotions even more.
Hasan Gadir, a village leader, said he called an urgent meeting with all
northern local council representatives to be held Wednesday, in order
to decide how to address the issue.
"We are shocked and horrified," he said. "This was a dark day for all of
us and we cannot take its implications seriously enough. Our tribe is
known for its good temper and spirit, and we denounce those youths'
actions. We will never accept this sort of behavior. For us, this is
worse than a murder."
Gadir said he spent the day Tuesday with Cmdr. Dan Ronen, Northern
District Police chief, and at the detention center, where he met with
the suspects and their parents.
"I don't know the suspects personally but I know their parents. They are
all from good families, but none of us can even think why and how it
happened," he said. "We are going to examine the cases more deeply and
draw conclusions, so that this will never happen again. I took it
personally and it made me sad and shocked. This village has made me
proud in the past, and I hope I will be proud of it again."
Gadir's reaction was echoed by other members of the town.
"I read about it on the Internet and it made me upset," said Adel
Hareb, manager of the Bir al-Maksur Education Department. "That doesn't
add respect to our community and this kind of behavior is against our
belief, culture and tradition as Beduins."
Speaking to The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday, Hareb said the village
members "will support any punishment they receive, but I hope this
turns out to be a mistake. I am sure that their family members denounce
their actions just as we do," Hareb added.
Bir al-Maksur is home to 7,000 residents, most of whom are Muslims.
"This is a friendly and safe village which many travelers from all
sectors enjoy visiting. It is too bad that irresponsible people can
ruin, with a wave of a hand, what we have built with hard work, love and
care," Hareb said.
Another resident of the village expressed shock at the report of the
rapes, saying, "These kinds of crimes are shocking. We hear on the news
about rapes all the time, and even if we cannot feel what the women who
were attacked feel, this is just as terrible. Our village is a quiet
place whose residents live in coexistence and friendship with all of its
Israeli neighbors and I hope people don't hold it against us all."
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