5 suicide bombings foiled by Shin Bet so far this year
77 terror attacks thwarted in 2016, agency says as Nadav Argaman takes over as director; 300 Jewish terror suspects indicted since 2013
The Shin Bet security agency foiled 77 terror attacks since the beginning of 2016, including five suicide bombings and 10 other bombings, seven kidnappings and 34 shooting attacks, according to figures released on Sunday.
Over 300 Jewish suspects have also been indicted on terror charges since 2013, the report said.
The report detailing the agency’s activities in the past five years came as outgoing director Yoram Cohen stepped down, and was replaced by Nadav Argaman.
In 2015, the security agency foiled some 239 attacks overall, among them 12 suicide bombings, 19 kidnappings, 41 bombings and 120 shootings. In 2014, some 217 attacks were prevented by the security agency, up from 187 in 2013, 112 in 2012 and 88 in 2011.
During the past three years, 302 indictments have been filed against suspected Jewish terrorists, the report said. The number of indictments peaked in 2014 at 116. Some 82 indictments were lodged in 2015, and 70 in 2013.
Since January, 34 Jewish suspects have been indicted on terror charges. The tally includes indictments against the two main suspects in the Duma arson attack, in which three members of the Dawabsha family were killed in the West Bank in July 2015.
In the past five years, 65 Islamic State members were arrested in Israel, the Shin Bet said. Eight attacks on Israelis by members of the IS cells were foiled, it said.
Argaman on Sunday began his tenure as head of the Shin Bet security service, succeeding Cohen at the helm of the domestic intelligence agency.
The agency is chiefly responsible for dealing with Palestinian terror in Israel and in the West Bank and Gaza, gathering intelligence, and taking part in arrest operations and assassinations of terror leaders.
