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Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Police: Assassin killed Chevra Kadisha director, Gun Found In Mikve

suspect Yitzhak Hazan

A hired underworld assassin shot dead the Haifa director of the Ashkenazi Chevra Kadisha (Burial Society), Benny Hesse, last year, after being paid 50,000 shekels, police announced on Wednesday, following the arrest of a suspect.

Hesse, who was 68, was walking home with his wife in Janauary 2011, when a gunman who had been waiting in ambush opened fire on him from close range, striking him multiple times and killing him. He had been director of the Haifa branch of Chevra Kadisha for more than 20 years.

The elite police central unit of the Coastal police district said a breakthrough occurred in the investigation last November, when a handgun was found hidden between rocks at a Beit Shemesh mikve (ritual bath). The firearm was accidentally found by a worker in the area.

The gun was sent to a police lab and found to be a ballistic match to a firearm stolen in Haifa in 2001.

The gun was traced to a suspect named by police as Yitzhak Hazan. "We were able to link Hazan to the murder scene," said Asst. Cmdr Eli Asayag, commander of the central unit.

Hazan, 49, did not cooperate with police during questioning and has not confessed. Northern state prosecutors will charge him with murder on Friday. Police also arrested his divorcee on suspicion of assisting Hazan, but later released her without charge.

Police believe Hazan was paid 50,000 shekels for carrying out the shooting. He told police he received the money for renovation works.

Police arrested two men from the Haifa area on suspicion of ordering the shooting, but later released them without charge. Israel Radio said the men had ties to the Kurdish Chevra Kadisha in northern Israel.

Detectives believe the homicide was ordered due to a dispute over how the burial society was being run.

One of the suspicions is that the dispute centered on a financial dispute and the division of a cemetery in Haifa.

Cmdr. Hagai Dotan, head of the Coastal police district, praised the central unit and vowed to continue investigating the homicide until those who ordered the killing are captured. "This investigation will continue as a top priority until we get to everyone who was involved," he said.

Jerusalem Post





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