Arab-Israeli recruited by Hamas to carry out terror bombing, arrested
An Israeli Arab from Umm al-Fahm was arrested by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and Israel Police after he was recruited by Hamas to conduct a bombing attack on a bus in the Hadera area, the agency announced on Wednesday.
The suspect, identified as Muhammad Nadir Mahajna, was found to have been recruited by Hamas’s military branch in the Gaza Strip a few months ago.
The Shin Bet investigation found that due to economic and mental stress, he began to draw close to the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood and decided to carry out a terrorist attack.
Mahajna collected information about potential targets for the planned bombing attack, with a focus on defense facilities and crowded areas, and sent the information he collected to Hamas.
Hamas proceeded to direct him to carry out a bombing attack on the 921 bus line in the Hadera area, and Mahajna even carried out a number of actions in order to prepare the attack before he was arrested.
On May 9, an indictment was filed against Mahajna charging him with serious security violations.
The Gidonim (33) unit in the Lahav 433 national crime unit took part in his arrest, releasing footage of the arrest on Wednesday.
Mahajna is the latest in a series of Israeli citizens arrested for working with Hamas in the past year.
In January, two Israeli citizens from Mu’awiya in northern Israel were arrested after being recruited by Hamas to carry out bombing attacks in the Jewish state.
The Shin Bet believes that all three of them were being directed by the same framework in Hamas.
The agency stressed that the responsibility for these attempted terrorist operations falls on Hamas and especially its leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar.
In October, three Israeli citizens from northern Israel were indicted for helping build a cyber threat against communications infrastructure used by the IDF and for providing sensitive information to the Hamas terrorist movement in Turkey.
The main suspect in the case, identified as R.A., worked as a software engineer at Cellcom, which provides services to the IDF and police. The suspect had broad access privileges to the company’s computer and information systems.