Shin Bet: Israeli Jew aided bomber
Jewish resident of Ramat Gan charged with driving a terrorist into Israel last month; Bomber who later blew himself up at a mall in the city of Netanya, killing five Israelis; Shin Bet says 25-year-old man is charged with manslaughter and joins arrests of two Israeli Arabs
Kfir Levy, a 25-year-old Jewish resident of the town of Ramat Gan, is suspected of driving a Palestinian suicide bomber who killed five Israelis in Netanya last month, Shin Bet officials said
He is charged with manslaughter, as are Rahman Abu Muh from the town of Abu al-Garbiyah and Seif Azzam from the Arab-Israeli town of Taybeh.
Security forces also detained Atef Zaharan, a Palestinian from the West Bankvillage of Ilar, near Tulkarm, who is also suspected of helping the terrorist who carried out the bombing on July 12.
All suspects say they didn't know they had aided a terrorist.
A Tel Aviv court postponed a preliminary hearing for the four men and will evaluate their cases before a new trial date is set.
Levy's brother Rami, 22, said his parents had no knowledge of the case and that he would tell them about it only tonight.
"None of his friends believe he would do something like this," Rami Levy said. "Kfir said he didn't even know the man had a briefcase."
This isn’t the first time a Jew has been charged with involvement in Palestinian terrorism. In December 2003, an Israeli taxi was charged with having driven a bomber and his fixer to a junction in Tel Aviv, where the terrorist later blew himself up, killing four people.
Bomber smuggled in with illegal laborers
A Shin Bet investigation revealed that Levy and Azzam had driven illegal Palestinian workers into Israel in recent months. Among one group was the bomber, 18-year-old Ahmed Jaway from the West Bank village of Atil and his fixer, Zaharan.
Shin Bet officials suspect that Levy and Azzam knew that thieves, not laborers, had been among the group that day.
The Shin Bet said they told investigators that they had driven two residents of Taybeh through an army roadblock near Tulkarm. Levy had managed to bypass the thick security at the checkpoint by using his Jewish identity card.
Ah Rahman Abu Muh, a 24-year-old resident of the Israeli Arab town of Baka al-Gharbiya, said in his interrogation that he had driven the suicide bomber and his fixer to Netanya, where the bomber had later detonated his explosives belt.
USD 10,000 to help a bomber
Zaharan told investigators that a month before the bombing, he had agreed to an offer made by Islamic Jihad terrorist Nidal Abu Saadeh, where he would help a suicide bomber infiltrate into Israel for USD 10,000.
Palestinians had said at the time that Abu Saadeh had been under arrest at the time on charges of involvement in a suicide bombing at a nightclub in Tel Aviv in February that killed five people, but that he had continued to plan anti-Israeli attacks despite his detainment.
Abu Saadeh had given Zaharan a fake identification card in order to minimize the chances of him being stopped before the bombing was carried out, as well as a black briefcase that held another briefcase that contained explosives.
On the day of the bombing, Zaharan set out with Abu Saadeh from Tulkarm to the town of Nablus, and picked up Jaway, the bomber, on the way.
Abu Saadeh gave Zaharan NIS 1,700 and told him he had to take a taxi to a nearby checkpoint, where a driver with Israeli license plates would be waiting for him and would then drive him to Taybeh for NIS 1,000.
Abu Saadeh told Zaharan he had to lead Jaway to Netanya. Seif Azzam later picked them up at the checkpoint.
Smuggling collaboration
In his investigation, Azzam, a Taybeh resident, said that he and Levy had for the past seven months been driving illegal laborers into Israel through the checkpoint near Tulkarm.
Azzam would drive to the Jabara checkpoint on the Palestinian side, where he would pick up workers and transport them to Pondok village. Levy would wait for him with a GMC vehicle, and take the laborers to the Palestinian town of Qalqilya or Zofin. Azzam would drive ahead of Levy and warn him of roadblocks or forces deployed on the way.
Azzam told investigators that Israel’s West Bank barrier hinders the possibility of committing criminal acts in the area, therefore he “was forced” to rely on Jews to cross the checkpoints. Both Azzam and Levy were paid NIS 1,000 for their efforts.
On the day of the bombing, Azzam was asked to smuggle into Israel “two friends, thieves, would would wait at Antba checkpoint.” Around 2:00 p.m., Azzam and Levy reached a junction. Azzam stopped his car and Levy continued to drive a few more hundred meters, where he waited in a secure spot to avoid being spotted by IDF troops.
Azzam said he noticed the bomber was carrying a large briefcase and that usually whenever people with bags entered his car, he would check their contents to make sure they weren’t carrying explosives.
In this case, he said, he also checked the contents of the bag and found clothes and another briefcase. The bomber told him that the smaller briefcase contained equipment for breaking-and-entering.
Azzam then drove the bomber and his fixer to Levy’s vehicle, where they boarded it with the briefcase, lay down on the floor of the car and drove to the Zofin checkpoint, where they passed through easily.
Azzam drove the entire way in front of them and was stopped by troops at the roadblock, who asked to see his identification.
Bomber says briefcase contained clothes
The two vehicles then proceeded to drive toward the Israeli town of Kohav Yair, where the bomber and his fixer boarded Azzam’s car, and continued to drive to Taybeh.
Levy said only that this stage did he notice the large briefcase that the bomber had held. He said he asked Azzam what it contained, and said Azzam told him it had clothes in it. He said he was satisfied with his answer.
After the bomber and the fixer reached Taybeh, the fixer called Abu Muh, a resident of the Israeli town of Baka al-Gharbiya, who he had conducted criminal business with in the past, Shin Bet officials said.
Around 5:00 p.m., Abu Muh reached Taybeh and the bomber’s fixer told him that the man he was with was a resident of the Israeli city of Lod and that he needed to reach Netanya in the morning to visit relatives, and that he would later need a ride back to the Jabara checkpoint near the West Bank.
Abu Muh agreed to the request after he was presented with the fixer’s fake ID card. During his investigation, Abu Muh said he panicked when he saw that the bomber put his briefcase in the trunk of his car. The fixer calmed him down, saying that it contained clothes.
Abu Muh said that during the ride from Taybeh to Netanya, he became suspicious of the bomber but still continued driving. When he reached Netanya, the fixer asked him to drop off the bomber in an area free of people, so that he could take out his briefcase without being noticed.
The bomber exited the car near a shopping mall, took out the small briefcase out of the large one and left the large one inside the trunk.
Abu Muh said the he managed to drive a few meters away when he heard a blast. At this point, he understood that he had driven a suicide bomber, but he kept driving with the fixer as his passenger until he reached Baka al-Gharbiya, where he disposed of the large briefcase the bomber had left in the car.
He tend treated the fixer to coffee in his house.
For his disposing of the suitcase, the Shin Bet charged Abu Muh with attempting to destroy evidence and disrupting the proceedings of a trial.
Security officials say the three suspects took advantage of the fact that Jews are not checked at checkpoints to bring in a terrorist and his fixer into Israeli territory. Levy’s involvement was particularly significant and allowed the bomber to reach the heart of Netanya, the officials said.
- Raanan Ben Zur and Vered Luvitch contributed to this report
