Evan Mecham Eco-Terrorist International Conspiracy (EMETIC)

In November of 1987, Fairfield Snow Bowl received a letter signed by the previously unknown group Evan Mecham Eco-terrorist International Conspiracy (EMETIC) informing them that their chairlifts had been sabotaged.  Shutting down for the weekend and repairing the chairlifts cost the resort over $80,000.  EMETIC targeted the resort because they object to the development of wilderness by ski resorts, and because this particular resort was leasing land considered sacred by Indians.<br /><p>Between 1986 and 1989, EMETIC was tied to several acts of sabotage against facilities that they considered environmentally damaging, most often ski resorts and nuclear power plants.  EMETIC's name, which is also a word that describes substances that induce vomiting, is a derogatory reference to Evan Mecham.  Mecham owns a car dealership and was once governor of Arizona. <br />

In 1989, the FBI ended a three-year undercover investigation of the group by arresting four EMETIC members who were about to cut power lines feeding the Central Arizona Project, an irrigation plan vehemently opposed by conservationists.  EMETIC had been planning to attack four nuclear facilities: two in Arizona and one each in California and Colorado.  The arrest and conviction of EMETIC's four known members effectively destroyed the group.<br /><p>Dave Foreman, the founder of Earth First!, was arrested along with the four conspirators because he had donated $100 in Earth First! funds to EMETIC.  Foreman and his supporters allege that he did not support EMETIC's plans, and undercover FBI agents pressured him to make the donation.

EYAL (a Hebrew acronym meaning Fighting Jewish Organization) was a Jewish nationalist extremist group that operated in Israel and the West Bank.  Although members traced their organizational model back to the Irgun and Stern Gang, two right-wing Jewish militias that committed terrorist attacks in British-mandated Palestine, EYAL can be seen as an outgrowth of the Kach movement.  Kach is a right-wing group founded by the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, an extremist who advocated the annexation of all disputed territories and the forced transfer of Arabs from those lands. <P> <br /><br />EYAL became active shortly after the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords; their main aim was to disrupt the ongoing peace process and to oppose steps taken by then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to hand back the West Bank to the Palestinians.  In September 1995, EYAL claimed initial responsibility for the shooting death of a Palestinian in the West Bank town of Halhoul, but later denied any involvement.  Another small Jewish extremist group "Sword of David" also claimed responsibility for the attack, and other sources indicate that the shooting could have been a criminal affair.<P><br /><br />In November 1995, Prime Minister Rabin was assassinated by a Jewish extremist named Yigal Amir.  Although it is not conclusive that Amir was a member of EYAL, he certainly had ties to the organization and it's founder, Avishai Raviv.  In a bizarre twist, it later emerged that Raviv was actually an agent for the Israeli Shin Bet, investigating right-wing groups.  While some speculate Shin Bet actually founded EYAL to spy on other extremists, the Shin Bet denies this claim vehemently.  In any case, EYAL dissipated shortly after Raviv was found to be a collaborator, and the remaining members most likely joined the Kach movement and its affiliate Kahane Chai.<P>  <br />