Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

Israeli indicted for swearing fealty to ISIS, plotting terror attack

The defendant attempted to procure a handgun and execute an attack on IDF troops in the Galilee city of Karmiel, police said.

View of the northern Israeli city of Karmiel
View of the northern Israeli city of Karmiel, on Jan. 23, 2026. Photo by Chaim Goldberg/Flash90.

An Israeli resident of the town of Nahf in northern Israel was indicted on Thursday morning on suspicion of pledging allegiance to the Islamic State and plotting to attack Israel Defense Forces soldiers, police said.

The suspect, Muhammad Abdel Ghani, 20, was arrested in a joint operation by the police’s Northern District’s central unit and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet).

His interrogation revealed that several months ago he pledged allegiance to terrorist organization ISIS and attempted to acquire a handgun, and was planning to execute a terrorist attack against soldiers in the city of Karmiel, according to the statement.

During his arrest, posters and various symbols implicating his affiliation with and interest in ISIS were seized from his room, the statement further read.

The police asked to keep him in detention until the end of legal proceedings.

See more from JNS Staff
“The message being sent is that you can get away with attacking someone in broad daylight because you disagree with their opinions, especially if it involves feelings about Israel,” Joshua Burt, of the Anti-Defamation League, told JNS.
“Not identifying Hamas as a terrorist organization is, I think, a failure, Marc Miller told the Canadian Press. “And not clearly stating that, for example, Hamas intended to kill Jews is, I think, an unfortunate error in curation and should be rectified.”
“This is life for Jews under the leadership of Mayor Zohran Mamdani,” advocacy group StopAntisemitism wrote.
The Committee to Protect Journalists said Nika Soon-Shiong’s five-year board term expired as it reviews whether Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives were misclassified as journalists killed in Gaza.
“Blaming Israel for the rise in antisemitism on the political left and in the Democratic Party specifically is classic narcissistic behavior,” Jim Walsh, chair of the state’s Republican Party, told JNS. “It’s what abusive husbands do to battered wives.”
“President Trump picked the right person for the job,” Rep. Tim Walberg stated, citing Sonderling’s record at the department and efforts to combat Jew-hatred in the workplace.