An Israeli court sentenced Naim Jabrin, 27, a resident of Umm al-Fahm, to 45 months in prison and a fine of 10,000 shekels ($2,800) for trying to join ISIS.
At the sentencing, the judge said Jabarin watched online content of the organization, and then attempted to join the group and take part in its activities in Syria, Ynet reported on Monday.
Jabrin was arrested during a security check at Ben-Gurion International Airport in June 2024 together with Abdel Mahdi Gabarin as they tried to board a flight to Turkey from where they planned to cross into Syria.
The suspects became acquainted during prayers at a mosque in the city of Umm al-Fahm. Gabarin served as an imam in Ar’ara, a town southwest of Umm al-Fahm.
The two men were said to have consumed online propaganda that glorified ISIS’s actions, including beheading videos put out by the terrorist group, and were suspected to have prepared for the fighting in Syria through combat training and shooting drills at firing ranges in Israel.
On June 17, 2024, the Israel Police revealed that security forces had arrested a resident of Ar’ara on suspicion of preparing to join ISIS in Somalia. He was said to have made extensive preparations, including by writing a will, collecting funds, applying for a foreign passport and maintaining contact with “hostile elements.”
Earlier last year, ISIS spokesman Abu Huthaifa al-Ansari called on the group’s supporters around the world to attack Jews and avenge the killing by the Israel Defense Forces of Hamas terrorists in Gaza.
The Arab terrorist who murdered a 14-year-old Israeli shepherd in Samaria in April 2024 was inspired by ISIS, having become interested in jihad and the Islamic State around a year before he carried out the killing.
Israeli authorities have foiled several ISIS-linked terror plots.
In April 2024, four Arabs from eastern Jerusalem who had sworn allegiance to the Islamic State, two of whom planned to attack a police station near the capital’s Teddy sports stadium, were indicted in an Israeli court.
The previous month, security personnel arrested four Palestinians planning ISIS-inspired attacks against troops in Judea and Samaria.
In January of last year, Israeli security forces foiled an ISIS-inspired terrorist attack that was to be carried out near the country’s parliament in Jerusalem.
