Shin Bet foiled Hamas plot to attack soldiers on Purim
Security officials arrested 2 Palestinian suspects days before planned attack at a Jerusalem checkpoint
Tamar Pileggi is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
The Shin Bet thwarted a shooting attack on IDF soldiers by a small Jerusalem-based Hamas cell made up of two Palestinian men formerly imprisoned in Israel, the security service announced Tuesday.
The two members of the cell planned to shoot soldiers on duty at a checkpoint just outside Jerusalem during the recent Purim holiday last month, the Shin Bet said in a statement.
The two practiced their shooting skills, scouted a location for the planned attack in detail, and jointly purchased a getaway car that they intended to burn afterward, the statement alleged.
The investigation uncovered a Kalashnikov rifle, a 9-mm handgun and approximately 40 rounds in the men’s possession.
The head of the cell was 25-year-old Ma’an Shaer, an employee at the Abu Dis University cafeteria. Originally from the northern West Bank town of Burqa, Shaer served a two-year jail term in 2009 for planning shooting attacks against soldiers.
The other cell member is Daud Adwan, a 32-year-old Hamas activist and resident of the West Bank town of al-Azariya. Also a former prisoner, Adwan had prior knowledge of weapons, the Shin Bet said.
The two planned to recruit a getaway driver who would take them to an abandoned wadi outside al-Azariya and set fire to the car as they continued their escape.
While interrogating the suspects, Shin Bet investigators learned that the cell was much closer to carrying out an attack than security officials had originally thought, the statement said. The agency said the arrests were made in early March, days before the holiday, which this year fell on March 15.
The men are slated to be indicted in a West Bank military court in the coming days. In its statement, the Shin Bet said the investigation underscored the “high motivation by Hamas to carry out attacks in and around Jerusalem, as well as the dangers of Hamas members who return to the cycle of terrorism after their release from prison.”
