Shin Bet, police thwart Israeli citizens’ plan to bomb Jewish holy sites in north
Three suspects indicted this week on charges of planning acts of terrorism, developing weapons with aid from West Bank Palestinians illegally in Israel
The Shin Bet and Israel Police thwarted a planned terror bombing and shooting attack at Jewish holy sites in the north last month, security forces announced in a joint statement on Thursday.
The agencies said they arrested Basel Abahara, a 23-year-old Galilee resident who planned the attack, and two minors in mid-August. An indictment was filed against them this week charging them with preparing an act of terrorism and producing weapons.
During their interrogations, it became evident that Abahara intended to set off explosives at the graves of sages in the north to target Jews who came to pray there and follow up the explosions by shooting at the would-be victims, the statement said.
It added that in the months prior to his arrest, Abahara sought advice from West Bank Palestinians who had illegally entered Israel on how to build the explosives.
Abahara had recruited the minors who were arrested with him to help carry out the attack, the statement said.
The statement said that the Shin Bet and police seized communication devices, a military vest, and materials used to build bombs during the investigation, and that preparations for the attack were in the early stages when the arrest was made.
During Abahara’s interrogation, he also revealed that he had thrown a Molotov cocktail at a road near his home at the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war, which has been raging in Gaza for the past year, since the terrorist organization’s October 7 attack on Israel in which some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 251 were taken hostage.
The Shin Bet and police said the three suspects’ actions “are even more severe when being carried out by Israeli citizens at wartime.”
“The Shin Bet and Israel Police treat any involvement of Israeli citizens in activity that endangers the state’s and citizens’ security with great severity, will continue to operate accordingly under the authority afforded to them, and will use the means at their disposal to thwart threats,” they said.
