The Shin Bet security service last month arrested a 22-year-old Arab Israeli woman suspected of having joined the al-Nusra Front terror group in Syria in March 2018.
Rania Shenawi, of the Arab town of Makr, was arrested on May 7 upon her return to Israel from Syria, the Shin Bet says.
Last Friday, Shenawi was charged with in a Haifa court with contacting a foreign agent, attempting to join a terror group, illegally leaving the country and theft. She has also been charged with attacking a police officer while she was in custody.
According to the security service, Shenawi traveled to Syria last April, crossing into the war-torn country from Turkey using a counterfeit identity card. In order to fund her trip, Shenawi stole money approximately NIS 10,000 ($2,750) from her father, according to her indictment.
In Syria, she allegedly joined al-Nusra Front, which has been connected off and on over the years to both the Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State terror groups.
“The findings of the investigation of Shenawi show that she held an extreme ideological worldview, mostly in supporting the Islamic State terror group and in a deep hatred of Jews,” the Shin Bet says.
— Judah Ari Gross
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