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Photo: AFP
Ramla woman charged for attempt to aid terrorists
Kindergarten aide arrested, charged with intent to assist Fatah's military wing with kidnapping of Jews, smuggling of suicide bomber into Israel from Gaza
The Shin Bet and the police suspect that a 21-year old Israeli woman from Ramla was asked by terrorists to assist them in the execution of attacks in Israel.
The information was cleared for publication Monday after Petah Tikvah's District Court indicted the young woman on charges of contacting a foreign agent.
Sumiya Abu Ranem, resident of Ramla, is employed as a kindergarten aide in the city. She had planned to start studying at an Israeli university this year, but her plans were thwarted by her arrest several weeks ago.
Police asserted that operatives from the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Fatah's military wing, contacted Abu Ranem and asked her to assist them in kidnapping a Jew, and she expressed a willingness to do so.
The police and Shin Bet further claim that she had been asked to help the group smuggle a female suicide bomber from Gaza into Israel, and escort her to a suitably crowded location. Police said her arrest had halted the plot before it could be carried out.
