East Jerusalem resident arrested on suspicion of collaborating with Hezbollah
Man allegedly was in contact with terror group’s handler abroad who has recruited others in the past, met with operatives in Jenin, took photos in Jenin holding a gun
A resident of East Jerusalem was arrested last month on suspicion of having been in contact with members of Hezbollah and various other terror groups, the Israel Police and Shin Bet said in a joint statement Thursday.
The suspect, a 32-year-old from the predominantly Palestinian neighborhood of Issawiya, was arrested on December 25 and handed to the Shin Bet for questioning.
He was not named in the statement.
It was the latest in a series of cases where Iran or its Lebanese proxy terror group Hezbollah have worked to recruit Israeli residents for espionage or to carry out attacks.
Over the course of the investigation, the police and Shin Bet said the suspect revealed that he had been in frequent contact with Hezbollah operatives over several years, and was part of an online Hezbollah-affiliated group calling itself the “Resistance Axis.”
Among those he contacted was a Hezbollah operative abroad who had previously recruited other East Jerusalem residents to assist the terror group, the security bodies said, adding that several of the operative’s past recruitees have been apprehended and indicted by Israel in recent months.
Though the statement did not name the Hezbollah contact abroad, described as female, a previous similar case identified a woman using the name “Dania.”
The suspect was in contact with some of the recruited operatives in East Jerusalem and shared with them information about “sensitive sites” that he had photographed, the statement said.
The suspect has also visited Jenin, in the West Bank, to meet with terror operatives from other groups. The statement added that while there, the suspect posed for photographs alongside weapons belonging to the groups.
An indictment is expected to be filed against him in the near future, it added.
In December, security officials said that two Jerusalem residents in their 30s had been indicted for contact with Hezbollah and providing the Iran-backed terror group with information as it battled Israel over the past year.
According to the indictment, Abd al-Salam Qawasameh and Taar Asili were in contact via a WhatsApp group with a woman using the name “Dania,” who was a Hezbollah operative.
Earlier in December, security officials revealed that another Jerusalem man had been arrested on suspicion of acting on behalf of Iran, including planning a terror attack.
War in Gaza erupted on October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian terror group Hamas led a massive cross-border attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians. The next day, Hezbollah began attacking across Israel’s northern border with Lebanon in support of its ally Hamas, forcing the evacuation of 60,000 Israelis from the north.
Over the next 14 months, Hezbollah fired thousands of rockets and drones at northern Israel. In September, the fighting escalated into an open war which ended in November with a ceasefire after Israel had decimated Hezbollah’s leadership and destroyed much of its weapons stockpiles.
A shaky three-phase ceasefire in the Gaza war began on Sunday.
Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah are all avowed to Israel’s destruction.