Prosecutors to indict 20-year-old Israeli for ISIS membership, contact with foreign agent
Police say northern resident Kenan Azaiza was willing to attack security forces, learned how to build explosives, planned to travel to enemy country with agent to train
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Prosecutors plan to indict a young man suspected of membership in the Islamic State and of maintaining contact with a foreign agent linked to the terror group, police announced on Wednesday.
The suspect, 20-year-old Kenan Azaiza, resides in the northern Arab town of Daburiyya. He was arrested alongside a second suspect, a resident of Acre, whom police did not name.
During his interrogation by Shin Bet and police investigators, it emerged that Azaiza had sworn loyalty to ISIS and expressed willingness to carry out attacks on Israeli security forces, police said. He also learned how to create pipe bombs and other explosives.
While in contact with the foreign agent, the pair made plans to travel to an enemy country in order to train under ISIS, police added.
The two suspects were arrested in recent weeks.
Azaiza is set to be indicted in the Nazareth District Court.
The announcement came days after terrorists, who Australian authorities believe were linked to ISIS, attacked a Jewish event in Sydney, killing 15.
Over the past year, a number of Israeli citizens have been arrested on suspicion of planning attacks after swearing allegiance to ISIS. This month, prosecutors indicted an 18-year-old on terror charges after he allegedly plotted to carry out an ISIS-inspired attack on IDF soldiers at a bus station in Beersheba.
In March, Taybeh resident Kamel Nashef was arrested after he allegedly made contact with figures who identify with ISIS, beginning in the summer of 2024, while separately, another Israeli teen, a resident of the coastal Arab town of Jisr az-Zarqa, was also arrested on suspicion that he had been planning a terror attack in Israel on behalf of the terror group.
In January, police arrested four minors from the Triangle region for planning attacks, including one who had intended to “carry out terrorist activity inspired by ISIS.”
In addition, police and the Shin Bet said last October they had thwarted a plot by five Taybeh residents to carry out a car-bombing attack at Tel Aviv’s Azrieli Mall under the banner of the fanatical terror group that originated in Iraq and Syria.
Palestinian assailants have also been recently accused of ISIS ties. In February, one of them, a terrorist from the West Bank’s Hebron who murdered three people and wounded others in a series of attacks in Jerusalem in recent years, was sentenced to three life sentences and another 40-year prison sentence.
The Times of Israel Community.