Prof. Shahar Nevo, 59, of Petah Tikva was identified Wednesday as the Bar-Ilan University mathematics lecturer charged with planning large-scale terror attacks that prosecutors say were intended to kill hundreds of Arab Israelis and Palestinians.
Nevo was indicted two days earlier at the Lod District Court on charges including preparation to commit an act of terrorism, extortion by threats and obstruction of justice. Prosecutors allege that he developed the plan out of a nationalist and ideological motive, initially against the backdrop of the May 2021 riots and with increasing intensity after the October 7 massacre.
Prof. Shahar Nevo
(Photo: Bar-Ilan University)
According to the indictment, Nevo sought to carry out numerous coordinated attacks across Israel that would kill large numbers of Arab citizens, including Bedouins, as well as Palestinians in east Jerusalem and the West Bank. Prosecutors say his ultimate objective was to force them to flee permanently to Jordan, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
The indictment alleges that for more than three years, beginning in February 2023 and continuing until his arrest about two weeks ago, Nevo developed a detailed plan he called “AIT,” a Hebrew acronym for a phrase meaning “the people will carry out transfer.”
Prosecutors say he took concrete steps to advance the plan, including conducting reconnaissance trips, drafting documents laying out its operational methods and ideological justification, and attempting to recruit participants.
72 attackers in 12 cells
Under the alleged plan, 72 Jewish participants, at least half of them licensed to carry firearms, would be divided into 12 cells of six people each. They would arm themselves with weapons including pistols, rifles, axes and hammers and launch simultaneous surprise attacks in mixed Jewish-Arab cities and Arab communities across Israel.
The indictment says Nevo also envisioned support from subversive elements recruited from within the IDF. According to prosecutors, the plan included possible strikes on Arab population centers by the Air Force, Artillery Corps and Armored Corps.
In a section of the plan titled “How to carry out AIT here and now,” prosecutors say Nevo outlined instructions for what he described as mass killing, rapid seizure of friction points, roads and entrances to Arab communities, mixed cities and hospitals.
The indictment quotes him as calling on participants not to show mercy, including toward women and children, and arguing that hesitation would lead to chaos and the killing of Jews.
Prosecutors allege that the coordinated attacks, combined with their immediate amplification on social media, were intended to cause Arab citizens of Israel, Bedouins and Palestinians in east Jerusalem and Palestinian Authority-controlled areas to flee beyond Israel’s borders.
The indictment further alleges that Nevo devised a covert recruitment plan under which he intended to approach Zehut chairman Moshe Feiglin and seek his participation before recruiting additional activists with his help. Feiglin is running in the upcoming election on the joint Religious Zionist-Zehut slate.
According to prosecutors, Nevo planned to identify potential recruits in advance and invite them to a Zehut election event, where they would be told they had been selected to participate in a terror attack the following day and would receive detailed operational instructions.
In its request to keep Nevo in custody until the end of proceedings, the prosecution said the plans reflected what it described as an “extreme and murderous ideology” that led him to formulate a detailed, multi-stage program intended ultimately to cause the mass killing of Arab Israelis and Palestinians.
Prosecutors said the alleged ideology and efforts to advance the plan demonstrated an immediate danger to individuals, the public and the state, adding that the nationalist motive and the security tensions during which the acts allegedly took place heightened that danger.
‘I have exams to grade’
At a court hearing Sunday, Nevo argued that he should be released to house arrest.
“In my opinion, I am not currently a danger to anyone,” he told the court. “My life has been completely turned upside down. I have so many things to do and financial matters to take care of. I don’t see who I am dangerous to.”
Nevo also expressed concern about remaining in custody and said that people around him knew the allegations against him. “I’m a professor at Bar-Ilan and worked until my arrest,” he said. “I have exams to grade at home.”
Nevo began studying mathematics at Tel Aviv University in 1984 and received his bachelor’s degree three years later. He later studied mathematics at Bar-Ilan University, earning a master’s degree in 1992. He joined the university’s permanent academic staff in 1999 and later became an associate professor in the mathematics department.
His attorneys, Hadar Sharir and Alon Porat of the Public Defender’s Office, said the case was still at an early stage. “After we study the investigation materials, we will consider our next legal steps,” they said.
Bar-Ilan University said after the indictment that it was “shocked” by the allegations and condemned the acts attributed to Nevo. The university said he would be suspended immediately pending completion of the legal proceedings.
Zehut and Feiglin said that after receiving alleged extortion and threatening letters from Nevo, they immediately contacted police and filed a formal complaint. The party said it trusted law enforcement and judicial authorities to handle the case fully.