April 9, 2013

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Yaakov (Jack) Teitel, a U.S.-born Jewish terrorist, convicted of murdering two Palestinians, was sentenced to two life terms and 30 years in prison.

Teitel, 40, was sentenced Tuesday in Jerusalem District Court for the murders, as well as  the attempted murder of two other people. He also was ordered to pay nearly $100,000 to the families of his murder victims and $88,000 to the others.

Before his sentencing, Teitel said he did not regret his actions, according to Ynet.

The Florida native, who made aliyah in 2000, has been held in an Israeli jail since his arrest in October 2009.

Along with killing two Palestinians and attempting to murder five Jews and Arabs — only two of the attempted murders were involved in the court case — Teitel 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, some while Teitel was in Israel as a tourist.

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.

He is a resident of the Shvut Rachel outpost in the northern West Bank and has four children.
 

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