Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

Israel thwarts terror attack at Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem

The Hamas network among students at Birzeit University served as a “go between” for the three Hamas operatives and provided them funds.

Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem during the UEFA U21 final match between Spain and Italy, June 18, 2013. Credit: Dindia via Wikimedia Commons.
Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem during the UEFA U21 final match between Spain and Italy, June 18, 2013. Credit: Dindia via Wikimedia Commons.

Israel thwarted several terror attacks in Jerusalem, including at the country’s largest soccer stadium, the Shin Bet security services announced on Wednesday.

The Shin Bet arrested three Hamas members last month who planned to carry out attacks against Israel Defense Forces’ soldiers near Ramallah and at the Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem that can hold more than 30,000 people, according to a Ynet report.

The men were Ahmed Sajadia, 27, from Qalandiya refugee camp; Muhammad Hamad, 26, from Kafr Aqab near Jerusalem; and Omar Eid, 24, from the village of Deir Jarir near Ramallah.

The Shin Bet said they became friends while studying at Birzeit University near Ramallah. The Hamas network among university students there served as a “go between” for the three Hamas operatives and provided them funds.

Eid apparently used his Israeli identity card to attend a soccer match at Teddy Stadium in order to check the security level, according to the report.

The operatives also planned to use improvised explosive devices to attack IDF vehicles and checkpoints in Judea and Samaria. They were trying to construct the explosives using instructions from online.

“I was brought in to unite the room in a sense of wonder,” the mentalist Oz Pearlman told JNS prior to the event, which was cut short after an assassination attempt.
“Taxpayer dollars are being wasted in overseas wars and should be redirected to the cost-of-living crisis at home,” a May Day Strong organizer told JNS.
“Having the Southern Poverty Law Center label you, a black woman, as an ‘apologist for white supremacy,’ it sort of makes you like kryptonite for any universities that would be looking to hire you,” Carol Swain told JNS.
“The United States expects all our allies, particularly those who have committed to supporting President Trump’s successful 20-Point Plan, to take decisive action against this meaningless political stunt,” State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said.
The agency’s Office of the Inspector General said the individuals, including three teachers, were referred to the U.S. State Department for possible debarment from U.S.-funded aid programs.
“A lot of people working without the certainty of pay working, previously, literally without pay. It’s a really big deal,” Rep. Brian Mast told JNS.