[...]

In an unrelated plot, the suspects were allegedly hired by a lawyer, named as Gor Finkelstein, to harm Shota Hovel, head of the construction oversight department at Tel Aviv Municiaplity, over Hovel's decision to knock down a building in Jaffa owned by Scientologists due to building regulations.


Finkelstein allegedly had a financial interest in preventing the building from being demolished, and was behind a May 9 attempt to detonate a car bomb under Hovel's car in Bat Yam. Hovel escaped from the incident unharmed, but the vehicle was damaged.

In a subsequent assassination attempt, three suspects dressed as police officers stopped Hovel in his car, and attempted to attack him with an electric shocker. That attack failed too, and the suspects fled the scene. Hovel was lightly injured.

Finkelstein eventually concluded that it would be most profitable for him to arrange for the building to be rebuilt elsewhere, police suspect, as he received commission from contractors behind the construction.

He therefore repeatedly ordered the Jaffa suspects to attempt to damage the building, police allege. In one attempt, a truck carrying 300 liters of fuel and a gas balloon was allegedly used in a failed bid to bomb the building. In a second attempt, a suspect allegedly entered the building, poured gasoline inside, and set fire to the place.

The suspects allegedly were dressed up as Orthodox Jews, in the hope that the attack would be blamed on Jewish religious organizations who are opposed to the presence of Scientology in Israel.

Attorney Avi Himi and Avi Hanish, who are representing Gor Finkelstein, said in a statement, "We completely reject the suspicions against our client."

The attorneys added that a heavy media blackout prevented them from being able to prove that Finkelstein was innocent of all wrongdoing, and that they could now proceed to prove his innocence.

[...]

According to police sources, the case dates back to several 2010 arson cases, which caused over a million dollars in damages.


The police believe the suspects targeted the new scientology center in Jaffa and planned to bring the building down via a gas explosion. To that aim, the loaded a truck they had stolen with fuel tanks and gas containers – while dressed as in traditional haredi garb. The move was meant to stir the future investigation towards a Jewish terror attack against the controversial cult.


Everything was ready – the gas had been pumped through special pipes into the building – and it was only a slight miscalculation in the gas-to-oxygen ratio which prevented a catastrophic blast from turning the building to cinder.


The police were struggling with the case when a lead pointed them to the suspects – members of the Bakher family. The suspects had no criminal records, but surveillance revealed that one of them, A.A, was an explosives expert. He would later become a State witness.



The most nefarious scheme involved a large explosive device meant to assassinate a senior sheikh after Friday prayers at the Hassan Bek Mosque.


The suspects were allegedly planning to use a remote detonator to trigger a car bomb which would have been parked at the entrance. The potential casualties among mosque goes would have numbered in the dozens.


Witness testimonies reveal that they were planning to hide their tracks by spray painting the words "Price Tag" – a term used for reprisals carried out by far-right activists and settlements – nearby.

Police surveillance discovered that the man who ordered the "hit" on the Scientology center was none other than the Scientologists' very own legal representative in Israel and worldwide, Attorney Gur Finkelstein, who stood to benefited from the future reconstruction work, due to a close connection with the building contractors.


Police said that the suspects – including the Nizar Bakher, the Bakher family patriarch and his son Abdullah, as well as Finkelstein himself – have admitted their involvement. The Tel Aviv District Prosecution is expected to file formal indictments in the case later in the week.


"This is a dangerous group of people whose victims were saved by a miracle," the Tel Aviv Police said. "They prepared explosive devices that could have flattened buildings let alone the consequences of the Mosque plan should it have succeeded. We prevented a huge catastrophe," the police said.

A statement released by the Scientology Center in Israel said, "At this stage it is too soon to respond as legal procedures are still at their beginning phase. We are certainly waiting for the episode to end and are awaiting for law enforcement representatives to make fully available all of the evidence."

The statement added, "We don't know what evidence the police has but we have no reason to believe that Gor is not innocent."

The Center stressed that neither Gor nor any other suspects were Scientology members, adding that he was hired as an external real estate legal representative "with a good reputation and a well based office in Tel Aviv." Gor had been working with the Scientology center for a number of years, the statement said.

"Due to his standing and proven ability we trusted him to handle for us matters connected with the purchasing of our building. Gor Finkelstein is one of a number of Israeli professionals we hired to deal with the purchasing and rennovation of the al-Hambara building in Jaffa," the statement added.

Attorney Gur Finkelstein has been indicted along with five Jaffa residents on charges of attempted murder and attempted arson. The prosecution believes the six are members of a crime ring in Jaffa that made an attempt on the life of an engineer in Tel Aviv Municipality and also tried to blow up the Scientology building in the city.

An additional man was arrested but his identity is being kept under gag order as he is a state witness. The prosecution has asked the court to remand the arrests of all suspects.

Attorney indicted on charges of leading Jaffa crime ring
Published: 05.19.11, 09:17 / Israel News
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340 ... 29,00.html


That's SCIENTOLOGY's Attorney indicted on charges of leading Jaffa crime ring

They do pick 'em , don't they?

Attorney indicted on charges of leading Jaffa crime ring
Published: 05.19.11, 09:17 / Israel News
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340 ... 29,00.html


That's SCIENTOLOGY's Attorney indicted on charges of leading Jaffa crime ring

They do pick 'em , don't they?

All - here is a little update on the Jaffa Org story and a Scientology lawyer second only to Moxon, Gur Finkelstein:

So far a few excerpts of Finkelstein's investigation came to light. He claims that the city-hall official that issued a demolition order (Shota Hovel) was blackmailing Scientology with the demolition order, trying to extort money. In the mean time, the city hall of Tel Aviv http://www.globes.co.il/news/article.as ... 1000652452 hasn't decided yet whether to allow the Scientology to open the Jaffa Org at all, as there are many council members who are against it, since it's a dangerous cult and a "missionary" organisation: http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/spages/1231253.html (sorry, it's all in Hebrew)

And another bonus to the whole story:
Shota Hovel [the city hall official that issue a demolition order for the Jaffa Org], has nephew by the name of Yossi Hen (hard H). Hen was allegedly bribed by Scientology to influence Hovel to allow the construction to continue.

^^^ I'll translate the last article when I get the moment. It's quite interesting really. Scientologists claim that the Jaffa Org is a "college" or an "institute". The city council members are saying no it's not, it's just a cult. But of course then the really left wing liberals [and I'm a liberal myself] said something about how the multi-cultural Tel Aviv is [Jaffa is part of Tel Aviv municipalitiy] and how discriminatory it is not to allow Scientology to open their Org. An organization leading the battle against the Org is named The Israeli Center of Cult Victims. http://www.infokatot.com/ (just Hebrew) They don't necessarily deal with Scientology, they have plenty of Messianic cults to deal with, but they are very anti-Scientology as well.

Tel Aviv municipality will discuss whether to allow the new Scientology center in Jaffa to open
http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/spages/1231253.html

By Ilan Lior

Charged debate is expected by the Local Planning and Zoning committee regarding the establishment of the Scientology center in Jaffa. Opponents say: This is a missionary sect.

A charged debate about the establishment of the Scientology Center in Jaffa is expected tomorrow (Wednesday 15 June 2011) at the meeting of the subcommittee of the Tel Aviv city hall Local Planning and Building unit. The center is expected to open in the building previously occupied by the Alhambra Theater on Jerusalem Avenue. Although the committee will be asked to approve the technical process - a change of a building permit from a theater to a college - but such a change will actually give a green light to open the Scientology center, whose activity is in the center of a controversy.

The struggle against the establishment of the Scientology center is led by the Israeli Center for Victims of Cults. "Scientology is a missionary cult which uses techniques that lead to serious and severe damage to lives of people all over the world, wrote Rachel Lichtenstein, one of the heads of the anti-cult center. "The request at hand," she added, "is actually an application for a permit to establish a center that will serve as the sect's instrument and recruiting and will empower Scientology to attract a large number of innocent victims into their ranks." The Center for Victims of Cults also added that "This request is in fact a request to establish a center of Scientology, and not to establish a college."

Deputy mayor of Tel Aviv and a member of the planning committee Asaf Zamir (faction “the city majority"), tends to oppose the request. "Even in a democracy is not all is sacred in the name of freedom of religion. When an authority comes to approve an extraordinary use of a building, it has to take into account all the relevant considerations. As far as I know, the city zoning in the area at question does allow educational and cultural activities, however, I have yet to see a document from the Higher Education Committee that proves that the activity of Scientology in Israeli is in fact “educational activity”. In addition, a geographical consideration also needs to be taken into account and it is not clear that the center in Jaffa is the right place for this sort of the proposed activity.

Another Planning Board member, Deputy Mayor Meital Lahavi (Meretz fraction), said that there is no reason for the denial. "The building is a public building. The Scientology wish to do with it is for the purposes of the College of Scientology and it seems reasonable. The question of what is legitimate and not who is legitimate. If this building is privately owned, so our intervention in this question is of limited authority," she says. The City of Tel Aviv is a pluralistic city that gives space to all streams. Where if not in Tel Aviv would Scientology set up their house? Until Scientology or another body is registered as a cult, there is no reason not to give them permission." [Translator’s note: in 1987 Scientology was deemed to be a cult in a parliamentary committee].

The center said that the committee members have no professional reason to reject the request. "If they do not approve the request they sin against the citizens of Tel Aviv - Jaffa. There is no design problem," says Yara Segal, a spokeswoman for the Scientology center. She says, "Scientology is not missionary religion, it's a lifestyle - to help people. Nothing more. Anyone who came to see one of the principles of Scientology the most basic principles of Scientology is to respect every religion."[/COLOR]

She further added that "there is a very small extreme minority trying to falsify stories about people who are only trying to do good for thte society. There are those who try to describe Scientology as a cult or similar. This is completely untrue. On the contrary - Scientology is one of the most transparent things not only in Israel, but in the whole world. All of Scientology goals are positive goals, such as - such as anti-drug activities and anti- violence activities, civil rights, empowerment of the individual and national crisis management ".

The original request to change the permit was signed by Advocate Gur Finkelstein, who represented the center of Scientology. Finkelstein was arrested last month and accused of a series of serious offenses, including attempted murder, tampering with aggravated intent, an attempt to injury with serious intent, damage with explosives, arson, conspiracy and theft and assault at aggravating circumstances. According to the indictment against him, Finkelstein stood behind the assassination attempts against Shota Hovel, the Director of the Tel Aviv Municipality's supervision. Also, Finkelstein was responsible for the attempted arson of the structure of the new Scientology center.

Charges against attorney Gor Finkelstein include ordering hits on ex-wife, her boyfriend, city official, plot to blow up Jaffa Scientology Center.

A Haifa court extended the remand of attorney Gor Finkelstein eight days on Sunday. Finkelstein, who is currently on trial for allegedly hiring hit men to kill his ex-wife and her boyfriend, among other charges, was arrested in Hasharon Prison Sunday under suspicion that he attempted to arrange the murder of a witness in his current trial.

The witness is also a prisoner. Finkelstein's father was also arrested on suspicion that he tried to help hire the hit-man to kill the witness. His remand was extended four days

Gor Finkelstein faces new charges of ordering the killing of a state witness to prevent him from testifying.

Attorney Gor Finkelstein, accused by police in May of launching several failed bomb and arson plots, was rearrested in prison on Saturday on suspicion of ordering the killing of a state witness to prevent him from testifying.

Finkelstein was arrested at the Sharon prison and his father, Yitzhak, was also taken into custody following intelligence gathered by the police and the Prison Service in an undercover operation.

RELATED:
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Immediately prior to his arrest Saturday night, Finkelstein's father, Yitzhak, had allegedly transferred cash to a undercover police agent, which police suspect was intended to pay for the hit on the state witness.

In his ruling, Judge Aran Koton wrote that there was reasonable suspicion and grounds for extending Finkelstein's custody.

Judges at the Haifa Magistrates' Court ruled on Sunday to extend Finkelstein's custdoy.

The court also ruled that Finkelstein's father, Yitzhak, remain in custody until July 20th.

The suspect's attorney, Avi Himi, protested Yitzhak's extension of custody, and told the court that Yitzhak had acted as a messenger and as the "right hand" for his son since his arrest three months ago, receiving funds from his son on several occassions.

"That does not mean that [Yitzhak] knew anything or even part of anything of any plans that were developed inside the prison," Himi said.

"About the meeting that took place yesterday [between Yitzhak Finkelstein and the undercover police agent], the undercover agent raised all kinds of topics because he knew he was recording [Finkelstein's] father... It does not mean that the father knew about anything specific," Himi added.

Himi also said that Gor Finkelstein had told his father that the money transfers were connected with private investigators who were gathering evidence to help his defense.

"There is no evidential basis to suspect him in attempted murder," Himi said.

Himi asked the court to send Gor Finkelstein for a psychiatric examination. The court obliged.

Finkelstein, a prominent Tel Aviv real estate lawyer, was first arrested in May on suspicion of hiring a Jaffa-based mob to bomb the Scientology Center building in Jaffa for financial gain. When the alleged plot, involving a truck filled with gas balloons and 300 liters of gasoline failed, the men were ordered to try and set the building on fire, police said. That alleged attempt resulted in failure as well.

Finkelstein is also suspected of sending the men on failed bids to kill a senior Tel Aviv municipality official, Sota Hovel, who had disrupted his financial plans for the Scientology building.

He is also suspected of sending men to kill his ex-wife's partner.

Gur Finkelstein, who was being held in prison during his trial on charges that he hired hit men to kill several people, was charged on Thursday of obstruction of justice for trying to order a hit against another prisoner, Israel Radio reported.

Finkelstein, and his father, who was also charged, allegedly tried to hire an undercover policeman to carry out the hit, according to the report.

The real estate lawyer is being tried for allegedly hiring hitmen to kill his ex-wife, her boyfriend, and a Tel Aviv city official, as well as to blow up a mosque and the Scientologist church in Jaffa.

[...]

When the alleged plot to bomb the Scientology Center, involving a truck filled with gas canisters and 300 liters of gasoline, failed, the men were ordered to set the building on fire, police said. That alleged attempt ended in failure as well.

He allegedly ordered the mobsters to harm Shota Hovel, the head of the construction oversight department at the Tel Aviv Municipality, following Hovel’s decision to knock down the building in Jaffa owned by Scientologists due to violations of building regulations.

Finkelstein allegedly had a financial interest in preventing the building from being demolished, and was behind the May 9 attempt to detonate a car bomb under Hovel’s car in Bat Yam. Hovel escaped from the incident unharmed, but the vehicle was damaged.

In a subsequent assassination attempt, three men dressed as police officers stopped Hovel in his car and tried to attack him with an electric shocker. That attack failed, too, and the attackers fled. Hovel was lightly wounded.

Finkelstein eventually concluded that it would be most profitable for him to arrange for the building to be rebuilt elsewhere, police suspect, as he received a commission from contractors behind the construction.

[...full article in above link...]

Here at the Voice we've reported this year on some pretty hard to believe worldwide developments in the ongoing Scientology saga -- from allegations of lying about child molestation in Australia, to splitting up families in California, to a months long siege by an intimidation squad in South Texas, to bizarre interference with a company trying to bring a life-saving machine to market in Florida.

But nothing seemed quite as strange, as wild, as ready for a Hollywood movie, as what has been happening with a Scientology building in Jaffa, Israel. We could hardly believe our eyes as we read about an attempt to blow up the Scientology facility -- and allegedly by Scientology's own agent. There was a botched car bombing that hurt a man and his young daughter. There were allegations of a religiously-themed frame job, of a failed attempt to assassinate a local government official by thugs dressed as police officers -- it just got stranger and stranger. We devoured stories about the allegations, but it was difficult to tell exactly what was going with Scientology's "org" as it attempted to open. What was really happening?

Then, last week, we found ourselves in Israel. So we stopped by.

[...continued in article link...]

Scientology in Israel: Arson, Attempted Murder, Foreclosure, General Paranoia -- And a Visit by the Voice!
by Tony Ortega, Village Voice. 15th Nov 2011
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninsca ... lstein.php

Lots of very interesting new detail. Do read.

Other related threads:
Israel court orders foreclosure of Jaffa's Scientology building Sept 20, 2011
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=38748
New Israel Ideal Org building set on fire. Arson suspected Oct 2010
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=32971