Material for explosives
צילום: רויטרס
Jihad enabler sent to 7 years in prison
Husam Hafez Suaftma convicted of purchasing fertilizer for his brother to create explosives
The Haifa District Court sentenced Husam Hafez Suaftma to a seven-year jail term and a two-year suspended sentence for aiding the enemy during wartime.
Suaftma was asked by his brother, an Islamic Jihad member, to purchase fertilizer for him to create explosives – but was arrested before making the purchase.
Suaftma, a Palestinian resident of the town of Tubas, converted to Judaism and took the name Assaf Ben David, but recently converted back to Islam.
In his charge sheet, Suaftma-Ben David's life story is detailed. He was born in 1968 in the village of Tubas in the district of Nablus. In the early 1990s, aged 25, he began a process of converting to Judaism and in 1996 he received Israeli citizenship. He married an Israeli wife, and his two stepsons serve in the military. The couple has another two children.
Suaftma's brother, Salah, continued to reside in Tubas and became a central Islamic Jihad member. He was a wanted terror suspect by security forces for a prolonged period. Towards the end of 2006, it is claimed, a link between the brothers was established, and they plotted to aid Islamic Jihad.
Suaftma agreed to purchase a large quantity of standard acid, a central component in the preparation of explosives. "To realize the link (with his brother) and advance it, the accused purchased, and received from Salah, phone cards so that he could be in touch with his brother without anyone knowing," the indictment said.
It was also claimed that Ben David turned to his sister, Saida Suaftma, and asked her to act as a go-between between himself and Salah.
In the end, the plot was not carried out. On December 20, the IDF succeeded in tracking Salah Suaftma down, and he was killed in an exchange of fire with IDF soldiers.
After his funeral, Ben David went to an Islamic court and converted back to Islam, due to, among other things, the fact that he was accused of raising soldiers for the Jewish army at the funeral.
