An Israeli extremist settler suspected of carrying out a series of crimes of murdering and plotting bomb attacks against Arabs and leftist Jews has been arrested, local media reported Sunday.
Israeli police and Shin Bet last month arrested Jack Teitel, a 37-year-old American immigrant living in the West Bank outpost of Shvut Rachel, The Jerusalem Post reported, citing security sources.
Teitel has confessed plotting and conducting several shooting and bombing attacks, with the first two attacks dating back to 1997, according to the report. He was suspected of killing at least two Arabs in multiple attacks during the past 12 years and wounding left-wing professor Ze'ev Sternhell, a
critic against Jewish settlements in the West Bank, by planting a bomb near Sternhell's home in Jerusalem last year.
After receiving the reports, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to fight violence staged by extremists, which he deemed as "a
minority" in the nation.
"They do not represent the majority of the nation," local daily Ha'aretz quoted a statement of the prime minister as saying, adding "We must
continue to condemn the use of violence and to use all legal power against any attempt at violence."