Indictments will be filed Friday morning against two northern residents who pledged allegiance to ISIS and planned to attack security forces on the Temple Mount and at an IDF base in northern Israel.
A joint statement by the police and Shin Bet cleared for publication Friday said that, following a joint operation by the Shin Bet and the Northern District Police's central investigative unit, a 16-year-old minor from the Galilee was arrested Aug. 4 after authorities discovered that he had contacted and pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS.
The Temple Mount. 'Activity endangering the security of the state and its citizens'
(Photo: AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)
During his interrogation, it emerged that around the same time he pledged allegiance to the terrorist organization, he began searching social media for content showing instructions on how to make explosive belts, with the aim of carrying out an attack against Jewish police officers and soldiers on the Temple Mount.
Several days after the minor was arrested and questioned, Ibrahim Kaabia, a 19-year-old Haifa resident, was arrested on suspicion that he had also pledged allegiance to ISIS. His interrogation revealed that he had planned to carry out an attack at an IDF base in northern Israel.
Friday morning, following the completion of the investigation, the Haifa District Prosecution will file indictments against the two and request that they be held in custody until the conclusion of legal proceedings at the Haifa District Court.
The Shin Bet and police said: "The Shin Bet and Israel Police view with utmost severity any involvement by Israeli citizens in activity that endangers the security of the state and its citizens, and will take all measures at their disposal to bring those involved in such activity to justice."
Attorney Suhas AghaPhoto: Sharon Tsur Attorney Suhas Agha, who represents Kaabia, said: "He is a young, law-abiding man, an outstanding student at a school in Haifa. He started working in a family business and was expected to begin university studies in the coming year. He is a young man with tremendous potential, and his family is in shock over the allegations against him. He did not plan to carry out attacks, and this was not attributed to him at the time of his arrest."
She added: "All of his contact with ISIS content stemmed from the curiosity of a young man, with no intention whatsoever of harming the state. He is a citizen loyal to the state."