2 Israelis indicted for selling dual-use chemicals used in terror attacks to Palestinians
Indictment says Yehezkel Moshe and Jihad Wazuz sold hundreds of tons of chemicals to agricultural supply businesses in the West Bank, some of which were sold on to terrorists
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
Two Israeli men were indicted Sunday on charges of weapons transactions and violating defense export controls, for allegedly selling and transporting hundreds of tons of dual-use chemicals into the Palestinian Authority without authorization and while making efforts to conceal their activities.
Yehezkel Moshe, 66, from Moshav Pedaya, was named as the first defendant, and Jihad Wazuz, 43, of East Jerusalem, as the second.
The indictment noted that four terror attacks were carried out in the West Bank between March and August 2024 using explosives made of dual-use materials. And it stated that a Palestinian agricultural supply store owner in Hebron who purchased dual-use chemicals from Moshe was arrested in September 2024 for selling such chemicals to a terror cell, which then made bombs used in those terror attacks.
According to the indictment, Moshe and Wazuz allegedly formed a criminal conspiracy to import thousands of sacks of potassium nitrate, calcium, sulfur, and other dual-use chemicals that can be used to make explosives, starting some time in 2019.
They continued these activities even after the outbreak of war following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, and even after they became aware that their chemicals were being used for terror purposes, the indictment alleged.
As well as having his own agricultural supply business, Moshe worked under a franchise for the agricultural supply company Amir.
The indictment alleged that he diverted some of the dual-use chemicals he obtained from Amir, without permission, and designated in documentation as being destined for a private Israeli company based in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc in the West Bank.
It said he falsified the documentation in order to disguise his actions and prevent inspectors at crossings into the West Bank from identifying the dual-use items as problematic.
In order to transport the chemicals to the recipients in the Palestinian Authority, Wazuz would bring his truck to Moshav Pedaya, load the chemicals onto it, and bring the cargo into the West Bank with the use of the fraudulent documentation.
The chemicals were then sold to various agricultural supply stores in the West Bank “without the ability to oversee that the chemicals would be used for agricultural purposes alone.”
The owner of the Hebron agricultural supply business was arrested in September 2024 for supplying the terrorist cell with the dual-use chemicals he bought from Moshe.
The indictment alleges that Moshe became aware that the man had been arrested and that the chemicals had been used for making explosives, but continued to sell and transport the materials to Palestinians, doing so on at least six additional occasions.
“In their actions… the defendants assisted in the production of weapons, with the aim of advancing the activities of a terrorist organization, or the commission of a terrorist act, or assisting in such activities or their commission,” the indictment said.
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