Israeli woman gets 22 months for trying to join Islamic State

The Haifa District Court on Tuesday sentenced an Israeli-Arab mother of five to 22 months in prison for trying to join the Islamic State group in Syria, where she wanted to teach jihadist ideology to new recruits.

Iman Ahmed Mohamed Kanjou, 44, a teacher from the northern city of Shfaram, was convicted in a plea bargain of contacting an enemy agent and illegally leaving the country. She was also given a year’s suspended sentence and ordered to pay a fine of NIS 30,000 ($7,750).

Kanjou traveled to Turkey without the knowledge of her husband, an imam in their home city.

After months of interest in IS during which she contacted a representative of the jihadist terror group via Facebook, Kanjou traveled to Turkey in August 2015 with the intention of crossing the border into Syria and joining the jihadists. Kanjou had told the IS representative she could teach ideology to new recruits.

The trip was financed by her father, who accompanied her on the journey with the intention of also entering Syria, and was made without the knowledge of her family at home. Her husband, unaware of her plans, reported her disappearance to police.

After arriving in Istanbul Kanjou’s father changed him mind, but she remained determined to cross the border and meet up with IS members. He lost contact with her and returned to Israel on August 26.

Two days later, Turkish police captured Kanjou as she attempted to cross the border into Syria. Turkish authorities sent her back to Israel, where she was promptly arrested by security forces upon arrival in Ben Gurion International Airport.

Kanjou holds a doctoral degree in Islam from Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, and admitted to Shin Bet interrogators she had been planning for months to join the Islamic State. She had no previous criminal past.

Over the past several years, the number of Palestinian and Israeli Arab volunteer recruits has increased among Syrian rebel groups, and the Shin Bet believes that more than 40 Israeli Arabs have joined the Islamic State in the last two years.

In May the Lod District Court sentenced an Israeli-Arab man to 18 months in prison for trying to join IS. A month earlier another man was sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted of traveling to Syria to join the al-Nusra Front and fight against President Bashar Assad’s regime.

In July 2015 five Israeli Arabs, including two teachers, were indicted for supporting the Islamic State group and promoting jihadist ideology in their classes.