Two Palestinians charged with plotting ISIS-inspired attack
East Jerusalem residents allegedly attempt to join ISIS in Syria; after failing, they decided to build a bomb to use against Israeli security forces.
Two Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem were indicted on Monday with attempting to carry out a terror attack in Israel inspired by the Islamic State group.
According to the indictment, during 2015, the two attempted to create an improvised explosive device (IED) and use it against Israeli security forces.
The suspects, Musab Eliyan, 23, and Samir Abed Rabo, 38, were charged with a variety of offenses, including support of an outlawed group, membership in a terrorist organization, and contact with a foreign agent.
Eliyan, according to the indictment, began supporting ISIS in 2014, and by 2015 started attending Islamic group study sessions where ISIS ideology was pushed. Eliyan then began to see himself as a part of ISIS and even decided to travel to Syria to fight with the group's militants there.
He travelled to Jordan in October 2015 to get a Jordanian passport in order to fly to Turkey, and continue into Syria from there. He was, however, promptly arrested by Jordanian authorities, and after being interrogated for several days, extradited to Israel.
Once back in Israel, Eliyan began collecting money in order to go to the Turkish consulate and get the required travel documents.
Meanwhile, he looked into whether or not he could get to ISIS in Syria by travelling through the Sinai Peninsula, and followed ISIS activities on the internet during this time period.
At the end of 2015, the two suspects allegedly got in contact with each other in order to build an IED to blow up a military vehicle. Eliyan planned the attack, and asked Abed Rabo for help, since the latter had previous bomb-making experience.
The two purchased cell phones that they planned to use to activate the IED, a coffee grinder to mix the chemicals needed in order to make explosives, an ampere meter and iron oxide powder. Later, they allegedly held other meetings to talk about other materials needed for the attack and about its implementation.
