Israel is accusing a group of Palestinians from the West Bank of carrying out a string of robberies that included the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Center in Jerusalem.
The alleged gang of thieves, three Palestinians and one East Jerusalem resident said to have assisted them, also stands accused of robbing a shooting range in Caesarea on Israel’s coastline, north of Tel Aviv, and a museum in Kibbutz Hazorea.
In the hearing, the prosecution said the gang showed sophistication and daring to commit the large-scale burglaries, causing extensive property damage in the process. The robberies took place from August to December in 2020.
A police representative said “valuable items” were stolen from Yad Vashem, but was unwilling to go into details.
“The burglary was to the offices and not to the museum and no valuable item was stolen,” Yad Yashem told Channel 12, “but a little cash that was in a drawer and chocolate. The drinking machine was also damaged.”
The thieves allegedly stole 33 statues from Kibbutz Hazorea’s museum, including items from the Far East worth tens of millions of shekels. Court documents also said the gang broke into the shooting range in Caesarea on three different occasions
