2 Israeli youths convicted of Nazi affiliation

State Prosecutor's Office signs plea agreements with two more youths implicated in Nazi activities. Two convicted on multiple counts of assault
Vered Luvitch
Yedioth Ahranoth Published: 05.05.08, 16:59
The State Prosecutor's Office signed a plea bargain agreement Monday with two other youths accused of affiliation with the neo-Nazi group which operated in Petah Tikva.

According to the plea, Arik Boanitov, 20, was convicted on 10 counts of racial assault, incitement, possession of racist paraphernalia, battery and assault with threat of bodily harm. He is expected to serve a four to 7.5 year sentence.

A 17-year-old-boy from Holon was also convicted on two counts of assault and was sentenced to 25 months in prison.

In early April, as part of a plea bargain reached with the State Prosecutor’s Office, the Tel Aviv District Court convicted four of the eight youths involved in Nazi activities of conspiracy to commit a crime, assault and incitement.

Details of the Nazi gang were first published in September 2007, when police arrested eight youths, aged 16 to 21, who sadistically targeted and attacked drug abusers, homosexuals, foreign workers, religious Jews and youths with a "Goth" appearance.

The indictment against the group also indicated that 19-year-old Eli Bunyatov, nicknamed "The Nazi", who acted as ringleader for the gang, had planned to organize a ceremony marking Hitler’s birthday, during which “he and his friends would make a pledge to Hitler and all members of the Aryan race to defend all members of the race to their dying breath.”