Arab Israeli who glided into Syria to join Islamic State flies home, is arrested

An Arab Israeli man from the central Israeli town of Jaljulia who crossed into Syria on a hang glider in order to join the Islamic State terror group in 2015 returned to Israel last month and was immediately placed under arrest, the state prosecution said Wednesday.

The case had been subject to a gag order, which was removed after the suspect was indicted in a Central District court on a number of charges, notably joining a terrorist group and contacting the enemy during wartime.

In the summer of 2015, Nidal Salah, then 23, along with another Arab Israeli man, Hossam Hajalah, decided to join Islamic State group fighting in Syria.

“While others were flying from Israel to Turkey and from there into Syria, the defendant and his friend decided that they would cross the border into Syria directly using a hang-glider,” prosecutor Roi Rice wrote in the indictment.

In the preceding months, Salah, who came from a family that was not particularly religious, had become enthralled in the doctrine and ideology of the Islamic State.

“His personality changed,” his brother Samih told the AFP in 2015. “He banned listening to music, and would only listen to (recordings of) the Koran.”

Salah and Hajalah practiced using the engine-powered hang-gliders for several months before they felt prepared to make the journey.

However, when they first tried to fly to Syria from the Golan Heights in mid-October 2015, Hajalah’s hang-glider sustained a “technical malfunction,” according to the indictment.

So instead, on October 24, Salah set out by himself to the Golan Heights again in order to fly into Syria alone.

“While he was in the area the defendant succeeded in avoiding being hit by the shots fired at him from the Syrian side. He then landed successfully in Syrian territory in order to join the Islamic State’s forces,” according to the charge sheet.

When he arrived in the country, he was “detained, jailed and brutally interrogated” by the Islamist terrorist group in order to force him to give information about Israel, according to the indictment.

He eventually was able to convince his interrogators of his devotion to the cause and was released from their custody.

According to the prosecution, Salah served “formally” as an Islamic State fighter for over two and a half years in Syria, taking part in a variety of military missions, alongside other members of the terrorist group.

During that time, he allegedly made contact with people in Israel and encouraged them to join the Islamic State.

“He was put in the ‘manufacturing and development branch’ of the Islamic State, where he worked for a monthly salary in a factory developing and manufacturing drones in order to film things from the air and to carry explosives. He was responsible for the steering systems of the aircraft,” according to the indictment.

During his time in the terrorist organization, Salah took part in a battle against the Syrian military and was taken captive, but later managed to escape from regime custody, the charge sheet said.

Sometime after that, he decided to return to Israel, knowing that it would likely result in a prison sentence. Salah then made his way into Turkey with the assistance of a smuggler. There he was met by members of his family and, later, an attorney.

He flew back to Israel on June 21 with his relatives and lawyer, and was arrested upon landing at the airport.

On Wednesday, he was indicted on a number of charges, including joining a terrorist group, providing information to an enemy, contacting a foreign agent, illegally exiting the country and several weapons violations.

Rice, the prosecuting attorney, called for Salah to remain in custody until the end of the trial, saying there was a “reasonable concern that he will threaten the safety of the public” in light of his past actions and affiliation with a terrorist group “known for extraordinary violence and cruelty.”