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KEHILAT ARIEL - ARIEL CONGREGATION
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AMI UPDATE
NOVEMBER
8, 2009
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Dear
lura_eddie@hotmail.com,
Thanks
to all who have written and are continuing to pray us through this stage
of the journey. We appreciate you and our fellowship in Yeshua is important to us, indeed I don't think I
have ever had the proper appreciation for the Body of Messiah until this
trial. I only hope and pray that I will be as faithful to stand by
others as you have been to stand by our family in our hour of crisis.
(2Cor. 1:8-11)
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MEDIA COVERAGE AND REACTIONS
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The remand in
custody for Yakov Teitel
has been extended again for one week. The reason that he hasn't
been indicted yet is because the investigation is still ongoing, and
there are other murders that it is suspected that he was involved in.
Evidence is still being gathered. It is very probable that he was
involved in the murders of two more Palestinians, and two Israeli
policemen who were murdered in the Jordan Valley 8 months ago.
The story was front page news in all the major newspapers, TV news, and
talk shows last week. Our prayers were answered and I believe that
the name of Yeshua was honored in our
interviews. Ami spoke very well and
maturely, as most of the reporters wanted to speak to him mainly,
first person, and not through us. Going back to the moment again
and again took an emotional toll on him, but he did very well. In
one of the news broadcasts, David shared that he felt pity for Teitel and his family, because he had brought shame
on his family, on the religious community and on Israel. He said
that he prayed that God would have mercy on him. Many friends and
neighbors in Ariel were touched by this. They said that Teitel had no mercy on our family, and yet David
prayed for God to have mercy on his.
Our faces were splashed all over the media, TV and all the major
newspapers. I belong to a Weight Watchers group of which half are
orthodox Jewish women (only two men in a group of about 30 women!)
This past Friday as I was walking into the meeting room, I wondered what
kind of reactions I would get. The group leaders didn't acknowledge
anything, and I was fine with that because I can gladly put aside the
whole subject for an hour to concentrate on something else, but as soon
as I sat down an Orthodox woman approached me. She and her 3
daughters are regular members, and she's often had helpful comments and
is very outgoing. She came up to me with tears in her eyes, and
said, I am from Shvut Rachel (the settlement
where Teitel has lived for the past 6
years). She expressed that the settlement is in shock, and that
they really didn't know what Teitel was
involved in. In fact, Teitel was very
isolated from most of the rest because he didn't speak Hebrew - he is
originally from the U.S. She said that everyone in the settlement
helps one another, and he often gave her a ride
to the clinic or the post office, and she was in total shock. Tears
were streaming down her face by now as she said, "we are so sorry
for what has happened, and we want you to
know that we are with you." She wanted to know how Ami is
recovering, and I shared with her what he has had to go through, but that
God has been with us all, and many miracles have taken place as people
have prayed.
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FURTHER
DEVELOPMENTS
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Teitel's
defense lawyer is claiming that he is insane and not fit to stand
trial. The court appointed psychiatrist said that although he had
schizoid tendencies (loner, apathetic to others)
he is totally functional, intelligent and fully able to stand
trial. The family are hiring a private
psychiatrist to do an independant evaluation.
In the meantime, a second man was arrested, suspected of being Teitel's accomplice. His name is Yosef
Aspinoza, and he is also an American
immigrant. It is clear that Teitel didn't
work alone. Throughout the years,
he passed out literature to the surrounding settlements espousing his
ideology. He also passed out a bomb- making manual, which detailed
how to make the exact bombs he used against us, Sternhel
and others. The manual encouraged
people to use these bombs against the police, and others. The
literature was all in perfect, sophisticated Hebrew, of which Teitel speaks practically none. Aspinoza has been released for the time being but the
investigation is continuing on his track as well as others who were
involved in Teitel's network.
If you've read the newspapers, you will know that Teitel
is also wanted in the U.S. for "serious, violent crimes".
BBC, Swedish, Dutch and Norwegian media interviewed us and have also
reported on our story, as well as the Associated Press. The AP
article has been picked up by Fox, MSNC and newspapers
all over the U.S. and the world, by Christian and seclar media. It has been time consuming
and tiring, but the Lord gives strength.
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UNEXPECTED
MEETING
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past week, we were reading an article about Teitel's
first victim in 1997. He was a Palestinian resident of East
Jerusalem, Samir Balbisi,
age 22. However, in the article, the
family's name wasn't mentioned, neither the details of the incident, and
we felt it was so impersonal. David breathed
out a prayer in his heart to be able to meet the family.
Later that day, our lawyer called to tell us that the Jewish
reporter for Arab affairs of the most widely read newspaper in
Israel (the magazine section of the Friday edition of Yidiot
Ahronot) wanted our family and the Balbisi family to meet in our house, and to be
interviewed together. We were so excited! Akram
(Samir's father) and Hani (the brother) arrived
at 7PM, and we immediately had a bond which crossed all borders.
They are a special family whose son was brutally murdered by Teitel. Samir was a
student of Technology during the day in a Jerusalem college, and he
worked as a taxi driver at night to support his studies. Teitel entered his taxi, asked to be taken to a
hotel, and in a dark place, shot Samir point
blank in the head. The murder has gone unsolved for 12 years until
now, even though in 1997 and then in 2000 Teitel
was questioned by the police in connection with the crime, but there wasn't enough evidence to arrest
him.
The article was entitled "Brothers by Blood" and it was
powerful. We will keep in contact with them. Hani called
David a few days later and said, "we are family now". We
pray that justice will be done for this family as well who have no hate
or bitterness, only sorrow and pain. We will translate the article
into English when we can, and will send it out.
2 Corinthians 1:8-11
8 For we do not want you to be
ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were
burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of
life. 9 Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should
not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, 10 who delivered
us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He
will still deliver us, 11 you also helping together in prayer for us,
that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the gift
granted to us through many.
In Yeshua,
Leah
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