Israelis charged with planning to murder soldier

The Petah Tikva Magistrates Court on Monday indicted three young residents of the city of Lod for planning to kidnap a soldier, murder him and demand the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for his body.

According to the indictment, filed by Attorney Keren Wexler from the Central District Prosecutor's Office, Ayman Kadoura, 26, Amir Nafar, 20, and Yassin Hinawi, 19, were the members in a religious group at Lod's El-Omri Mosque.

Nafar, the indictment stated, took religion studies in Jordan in 2007 and would return to Israel for short vacations. During his studies, he allegedly contacted a person hostile to the State of Israel and agreed to help him kidnap an Israeli soldier and murder him, in order to use his body as a bargaining chip in negotiations for a prisoner swap deal.

After agreeing to help the hostile element, Nafar allegedly contacted his two friends and asked them on their opinion regarding Jihad, martyrdom and terror attacks. The three met at the Lod mosque, where he presented them with the plan he was asked to carry out.

According to the plan, the three were to kidnap an Israeli soldier, photograph him, shoot or stab him to death, bury his body, and then hand his identity card to the hostile element who will launch negotiations for the release of Palestinian prisoners.

According to the indictment, Kadoura accepted Nafar's offer and began saving money in order to finance the operation.

In March, Nafar met with Hinawi in Jordan and hinted that the operation would be carried out soon.

Kadoura and Nafar were charged with conspiring to commit a crime and aiding the enemy at a time of war.

The separate indictment against Hinawi charged him with covering up an offense, as he failed to report that Nafar was planning to commit an offense and did not act to prevent it although he knew about it.

The police asked the court to extent the three men's remand until the legal proceedings are completed.