Alleged plan to assassinate prime minister thwarted
Two Hamas-linked men from East Jerusalem have been indicted for plans to make explosives and plot to detonate bomb under stage on which Netanyahu spoke.
An alleged plan by two Hamas-linked young men to assassinate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a suicide bombing was revealed on Friday when indictments were served against the East Jerusalem residents.
Hazm Sandouka, 22, and Fahdi Abu Kian, 19, were charged with belonging to a terror organization, aiding an enemy during wartime, contact with a foreign agent and other offenses. The Jerusalem District Attorney asked to extend the suspects' remand until the end of the legal proceedings.
According to the indictment, the pair helped Ahmad Azam, a Hamas operative, in preparations for terror attacks using explosives. Azam rented an apartment in the Abu Dis neighborhood, rented tools and began purchasing chemical materials. Sandouka allegedly proposed placing a bomb in an auditorium, underneath the stage on which the prime minister was to deliver a speech. The pair planned the event but did not set a date.
The indictment detailed Hamas's planning. Azam received instructions from a Hamas operative in Gaza, referred to as "Abu Omar" in the indictment. Contact between the two was handled via a program that sends coded messages and cell phones that were destroyed after use. Azam, according to the indictment, recruited the two other defendants at Abu Dis University.
The indictment claimed that when Azam recruited Sandouka, he asked him to commit a stabbing attack on Jews, only for Sandouka to reply that he wanted to commit a bigger attack. Azam purportedly later suggested to Sandouka that he kidnap Jews or act as a driver in a Jerusalem terror attack, to which he agreed.
It was ultimately decided, according to the charges, that his role would be purchasing chemical materials from Israel and getting them into the West Bank for use in explosive devices.
