Israeli security forces recently arrested a 17-year-old Arab citizen who was planning a terrorist attack on behalf of ISIS, the Israel Police and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) said in a joint statement on Sunday.
The suspect, identified only as a 17-year-old resident of the Arab town of Jisr az-Zarqa, located on the Mediterranean coast between Kibbutz Ma’agan Michael and Caesarea, was arrested on March 2 during a joint operation of the Israel Police and the Shin Bet, according to Sunday’s statement.
During the investigation, it became clear the minor repeatedly pledged allegiance to ISIS terrorists “and to the current caliph,” and planned to carry out an attack within the jurisdiction of the Israel Police’s Menashe Division.
Security forces discovered documents related to the production of explosives during a raid of his house, according to the statement.
Prosecutors filed a “serious indictment” against the suspect, as well as a request to extend his detention until the end of the proceedings.
Since the beginning of the current war on Oct. 7, 2023, Israeli security officials have investigated 80 cases involving Arab citizens. There have been 26 cases of Israelis swearing allegiance to ISIS and “global jihad organizations,” Kan News reported last week.
In total, the Shin Bet detained 177 Israeli Arabs for questioning in cases involving national security in 2024, the public broadcaster said.
Since the start of the Swords of Iron War almost 18 months ago, there has been a growing radicalization among segments of Israel’s Arab population.
A poll conducted in 2023 by the Israel Democracy Institute’s Center for Democratic Values and Institutions found that one-third of Arab citizens disagreed with the statement that Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre “does not reflect Arab society, the Palestinian people and the Islamic nation.”
A June 2024 survey found that some 14.7% of Arab Israelis believe that Hamas should govern Gaza after the war, in direct opposition to one of Jerusalem’s key war aims. That represents approximately 308,700 Israeli citizens out of an Arab population of around 2.1 million.
Since Hamas invaded the northwestern Negev, 15 Jews have been murdered by Arabs with Israeli citizenship or legal residency status. This figure includes Arabs from eastern Jerusalem, most of whom have not applied for citizenship but who have legal residency and can move freely within Israel.