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An indictment was filed against two Arab Israelis suspected of supporting the Islamic State and planning an ISIS-style terror attack in Israel.
The Northern District Attorney filed an indictment on Thursday against two Arab Israelis suspected of supporting the Islamic State (ISIS) and planning to carry out an ISIS-style attack in Israel.
The indictment was submitted to the Nazareth District Court against Bahaa Eldin Ziad Hasan Masarwa,19, and Ahmad Nabil Ahmad, 21, who stand accused of three offenses, including establishing contact with enemies during war, contacting a foreign agent and supporting a terrorist organization.
Masarwa, from Yafia in the northern Galilee, was arrested on January 22 for his role in the conspiracy. During questioning, he confessed that he had supported ISIS and intended to carry out an ISIS-style shooting attack against Israeli security forces with his associate, Ahmad Ahmad from Nazareth.
Additionally, Masarwa divulged during the investigation that they were planning to carry out the attack in Afula, Gilboa, Jerusalem and at a checkpoint in Jalamah, north of Jenin. Moreover, they had established contact with an ISIS terrorist in Syria.
Both had distributed ISIS material on the internet. “As part of the plan, the two collected money in order to purchase a handgun to use for the plan,” the Shin Bet statement read. Each had pledged to contribute NIS 1,500 toward purchasing the gun.
During the investigation, the Shin Bet discovered that “during recent months, the suspects drove to pray in the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem each week. During one of the journeys, they decided to carry out a shooting attack against security forces as part of their allegiance to ISIS and as part of their desire to wage Jihad on their behalf,” the statement continued.
A gag order was issued on the case on three separate occasions, the first of which was decreed on December 31, 2015, until the end of February and was finally released for publication Thursday. Additional details will remain under a gag order until March 14. The attorney’s office requested that the court keep the two in custody until the conclusion of the legal proceedings against them.
The Shin Bet statement concluded by pointing out that on September 3, 2014, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon used emergency defense regulations to outlaw ISIS as a terrorist organization, and on October 25, 2014, the Israeli government officially declared the organization to be a terror group.
In November 2015, the Shin Bet also announced that it had uncovered and arrested an organized cell of six ISIS recruits who planned on joining the organization in Syria. Furthermore, a worker who had previously worked at the Israeli Ministry of Health was sentenced in December following a security-related trial that lasted seven months. He was accused of attempting to join ISIS.
By: Alexander J. Apfel/TPS
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