With security issues dominating the peace talks with the Palestinians and the on going institutionlised incitement within the Palestinian authority, what justification is there for complaints against the security barrier?
See rerport below of latest attempts at terror attacks within Israel
Jerusalem Post By YAAKOV LAPPIN
01/23/2014
Shin Bet arrests men recruited by Gaza operative
working for al-Qaida chief; ‘They planned to bring foreign terrorists,’ says
security official.
The Shin Bet announced
Wednesday that it had arrested three Palestinians from
east Jerusalem who were recruited online by an al-Qaida operative in Gaza. It
said the three were in the midst of preparations to carry out a string of
large-scale bombing and shooting attacks on multiple targets in Israel.
The intended targets
included the Jerusalem International Convention Center, a bus traveling between
the capital and Ma’aleh Adumim, the US Embassy in Tel Aviv, and emergency
responders who would have arrived at the scenes of attacks.
The Shin Bet (Israel
Security Agency) said an al-Qaida operative in Gaza, named as Ariv al-Sham,
recruited the men separately as three independent terrorist cells. Senior Shin
Bet sources said they believed Sham received his orders directly from the head
of al-Qaida, Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Using Skype and
Facebook, Sham was able to recruit Iyad Khalil Abu-Sara, 23, of Ras Hamis of
east Jerusalem, who has an Israeli ID card. During questioning, Abu-Sara, who
was arrested on December 25, admitted to volunteering to carry out a “sacrifice
attack” on an Israeli bus traveling between Jerusalem and Ma’aleh Adumim. In
the planned attack, terrorists would shoot out the bus’s tires, causing it to
overturn, before gunning down passengers at close range and firing on emergency
responders.
According to the Shin
Bet’s investigation, Abu-Sara also volunteered to help orchestrate a
simultaneous double suicide-bombing, involving the dispatching of two suicide
bombers to the Jerusalem International Convention Center and the US Embassy in
Tel Aviv. Subsequently, Abu- Sara planned to detonate a suicide truck bomb in
the vicinity of emergency responders arriving at the convention center.
To that end, Sham and
Abu- Sara plotted to bring a group of foreign terrorists to Israel using fake
Russian passports and posing as tourists. Abu- Sara was meant to receive the
terrorists and prepare their suicide bomb vests and a truck bomb. Abu-Sara was
also supposed to travel to Syria for training in combat and explosives manufacturing.
He had purchased a flight ticket to Turkey, a gateway to Syria.
Abu-Sara received
computer files containing virtual training courses on bomb manufacturing from
Sham in Gaza, the Shin Bet added.
Security forces
monitored communications between Abu-Sara and Sham, observing how the latter
asked his recruit which targets he had access to. After Abu-Sara suggested
various targets, Sham would direct the conversation toward the operational
aspects of attacks.
A second suspect, Rubin
Abu-Nagma, confessed to plotting to kidnap a soldier from the Jerusalem Central
Bus Station, as well as bombing a residential building housing Israeli Jews in
the Abu Tor neighborhood of Jerusalem. During questioning, he described how he
learned to manufacture bombs online.
Al-Anam, a third
suspect, from Jenin, also confessed to being in Internet communication with
Sham, and plotting to set up a Salafi-jihadi cell in Samaria for the purpose of
carrying out terrorist attacks.
Security sources noted
with concern the swift process of recruitment and preparations that took place
online in the space of a few months. They added that Abu-Sara’s father was
opposed to his son’s activities and warned him repeatedly after seeing his son
surfing radical Islamist websites.
“Abu-Sara and al-Sham
coordinated a trip to Syria and money transfers. This all happened very
quickly,” said a source. “All three terrorist channels formed at a fast rate,”
he added.
The investigation
underlines the fact that the Internet remains the main means of expansion for
global jihadi elements, the source said. Terrorist operatives use the Internet
to create operational cells, appoint local commanders, and transfer bomb-making
know-how.
The relationship between
recruits and their handlers online is similar to relations between a cow and a
calf, the source said. “The calf wants to suckle, and the cow wants to give it
milk,” he added.
The plots were disrupted
at a relatively early stage, the source stated. They are evidence of the fact
that the Gaza Strip is a terrorism base for al-Qaida-affiliated elements, in
addition to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, he said.
Hundreds of
Salafi-jihadis in Gaza have access to rockets and arms, and travel to Sinai to
attack both Egypt and Israel, the source explained.
Hamas has reached an
understanding with these elements, according to which they must not directly
harm Hamas by provoking an Israeli response against the Islamist rulers of the
Strip, but are otherwise free to act as they please. There have been no recent
arrests by Hamas of Salafi jihadis in Gaza. Rather, Hamas engages with these
groups by deploying its own forces to rocket-launching grounds to prevent
attacks on Israel, and through dialogue with al-Qaida-affiliated elements.
Outside of Gaza, Hamas
supports global jihadi activities in Syria and in the Sinai Peninsula, the
source continued.
Hamas would prefer to
avoid a confrontation with smaller terror groups in Gaza, while also avoiding a
head-on clash with Egypt and Israel.
The episode also
underlines the risk posed by al-Qaida’s attempt to recruit east Jerusalem
Palestinians, Israeli Arabs, and Palestinians in the West Bank, the source
said.
In November, three
Salafi-jihadi terrorists who were in the middle of planning a terrorist attack
were killed in a counter-terrorism mission in the Palestinian village of Yatta,
near Hebron.
The suspects were in a
car that contained explosives and firearms, when they were intercepted by the
Israel Police’s Counter-terrorism Unit.
The unit opened fire at
the car’s tires and the suspects fired back. Following an exchange of fire, the
two suspects were killed. A little over an hour after the firefight, security
forces engaged a third armed suspect, killing him as well.
Meanwhile, a US State
Department official acknowledged Wednesday reports of an al-Qaida plot
targeting the American Embassy in Tel Aviv, telling The Jerusalem Post that the
US is “closely following the situation” and has been in touch with the Israeli
government concerning the matter.
“The US Embassy
routinely employs a range of measures to safeguard US citizens and all of our
employees and their dependents,” the State Department official said. “We have a
high degree of confidence in our own security staff and in the Israeli security
forces.”
The official implied
that the plot had been a matter of discussion between US and Israeli for some
time.
“The US embassy was not
just the target, but obviously other targets were involved as well in the
threat,” State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said on Wednesday.
Harf said that the US
has no plans to evacuate the embassy.
“We obviously don’t discuss all of our security
measures,” Harf added.
1 comment:
Sorry, my comment is meant to be a
deterrent for future terrorists!
They are to be kept in 6 X 8 cell
for life. Their pictures and crimes to be published in daily
papers and T.V. etc. also their
punishment!
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