From the moment he arrived in Israel, Ya'acov Teitel believed he was receiving a series of unmistakable signals and instructions from God to carry out his acts.
Attorney Adi Keidar, representing Yaakov Teitel.
Photo: Yaakov Lappin
Teitel told his investigators that he had had dreams warning him that if he did not carry out the attacks, he would die.
He viewed events like rocket attacks on Sderot as divine punishment for past transgressions by Israel. And he allegedly launched bomb attacks on police targets to persuade them to refrain from securing gay pride marches in Jerusalem. Teitel viewed past decisions by authorities in Jerusalem to move gay pride marches off the streets and into stadiums as a validation of his "divine signals."
Teitel's attorney, Adi Keidar, held a press conference at his Ramat Gan office on Sunday evening, and slammed the decision by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) to prevent the suspect from meeting with a lawyer or undergoing a psychiatric examination for 18 days following his arrest on October 7.
Keidar cast doubt on the validity of some of Teitel's confessions, adding that all signs pointed to the fact that his client was a mentally unstable man who was convinced he was God's emissary.
"All we know at this stage is that he tied himself to many of the suspicions against him. I don't know how real these confessions are.
"What should be clear to any person is that my client is, in the best case, mentally unstable, and believes he has been sent by God. He saw signs, he had dreams, and became motivated to act. He told his interrogators could not refrain from doing it," Keidar added.
Teitel described a world of divine visions which guided his acts, his attorney said.
"He has many strange theories that were interlinked. It all seemed logical to him," Keidar said.
Keidar added that Teitel had confessed to the shooting attack on a Tel Aviv gay youth club in August, even though the Shin Bet was fully aware that he was not behind that atrocity.
"That confession requires an in-depth investigation of the rest of his answers during interrogations," Keidar said.
"This is a violation of human rights. There was an attempt to deny him proper legal advice, and this meant that the state of his mental health could not be examined," Keidar added.
"How did they [the Shin Bet] misuse the responsibility given to them by court and not cross check his confessions with a psychiatrist?" the attorney asked.
On Friday, the Petah Tikva District Court allowed Teitel to be sent to a district psychiatrist for a mental health examination.
"This is such a large series of incidents - it cannot be blamed on ideology or hatred," Keidar said. "The Shin Bet investigators have failed here. It is pitiful to grant him [Teitel] a psychiatric examination three weeks after his arrest.
"The Shin Bet is trying to solve all of its outstanding cases," he added.
Keidar said that Teitel's confessions "were not enough for a conviction," adding that Teitel would appear before a court on Wednesday for his fourth arraignment hearing.
On Wednesday, the Shin Bet will have used up the 30 days allotted to it by law to hold a suspect before an indictment, and is expected to either submit formal charges against the suspect, or ask the court for an extension.
"The most important thing now is that he undergoes a psychiatric examination," Keidar said.
