Three residents of the Bedouin town of Tel Sheva, adjacent to Beersheva, have been indicted on terrorism charges, security services said on Friday.
Wadi Atta, Assi (Musab) Abu Issa and Muawiya Abu Issa were arrested last month in a joint operation conducted by the Israel Security Service (Shin Bet) and the Israel Police.
According to the indictment filed on Thursday, the three men were part of a larger group of Negev residents who planned to carry out terrorist activities and attack Jewish Israelis in Israel.
Atta allegedly attempted to initiate terrorist activity and worked to recruit others to advance his plan. His alleged motive for the attack was the fighting in the Gaza Strip. Atta was also allegedly radicalized after being exposed to content on the internet from terrorist organizations including the Islamic State and the Taliban.
According to the indictment, security forces learned that Assi Abu Issa and Muawiya Abu Issa agreed to Atta’s proposal to carry out jihad terrorist activities and to acquire weapons for this purpose. The Shin Bet and Israel Police arrested the trio before they could take steps to implement their plan.
“The Shin Bet and police view the involvement of Israeli citizens in terrorist activities with great severity and will continue to work to thwart and fully prosecute those involved in terrorist offenses who seek to harm Israeli citizens and residents,” the indictment states.
Another Tel Sheva resident, Sabah Haniyeh, a sister of the late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, was arrested in April on the charges of incitement and identifying with a terrorist organization.
In July, two Israelis from the northern Arab town of Ar’ara, Abdel Mahdi Gabarin and Naim Gabarin, were indicted on charges of attempting to join the Islamic State terrorist organization in Syria. According to the indictment, the pair were arrested at Ben-Gurion Airport while trying to board a plane to Turkey and from there travel to Syria.
