Israel’s Shin Bet security service said Sunday it has arrested an Arab citizen of Israel on suspicion he planned to carry out an Islamic State-inspired attack in Israel.
Hasan Khaled Taher Sheik Yusef, 26, a resident of Taibe, an Arab town in central Israel, was arrested earlier in January but a gag order was imposed on the case.
On Sunday, Yusef was charged by the Central District Attorney’s Office and the gag order was lifted.
He was indicted for pledging allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) and planning to carry out an attack on its behalf.
According to a statement released by the Shin Bet, Yusef started to learn about the IS in 2014-2015, watching online videos of the radical Islamist group. He also looked into possibilities for joining the IS forces in Syria.
“The investigation also indicated that Yousef watched (video) guides on how to prepare explosives and even tried to get someone else to buy an M-16 assault rifle with him,” the statement read.
He tried to recruit others last summer, during a wave of protests in East Jerusalem sparked by new metal detectors that Israel installed in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
Yusef tried to convince several of his acquaintances to commit “different types of terror attacks, including a shooting in Jerusalem, setting off a car bomb next to the police station in Taibe and a stabbing,” the Shin Bet said.
However, he was rebuffed by everyone he approached, the Shin Bet said.
Dozens of Israeli citizens pledged loyalty to the IS or joined its forces in Syria over the past years.
According to the Shin Bet, “Israeli supporters of the Islamic State are a serious security threat.” The agency is closely monitoring suspects to prevent the dissemination of the organization’s doctrine in Israel, the statement said.
Israel’s Arab minority are the descendants of Palestinians who stayed put during the 1948 Israel’s Independence War. They comprise some 20 percent of the Israeli population.
