Photo: advisor.
Five Taipei residents accused of planning terrorist attacks, including the bombing of the famous Azrieli Towers in Tel Aviv, have been brought to justice.
Their detention became known on Thursday, although the Shabak investigation had been going on for a long time. Among the detainees are Israeli citizens: Sajd Masarweh (27), Mahmoud Azam (24), Ibrahim Sheikha Yousef (34), Abdullah Bransi (26) and Abd al-Karim Bransi (27).
According to the investigation, the defendants were supporters of the ISIS ideology and actively watched the terrorist organisation’s propaganda videos. Azam and Yousef initially intended to travel abroad to join ISIS, but eventually stayed in Israel, where they recruited new members to their group.
They organised a so-called ‘Islamic study circle’, which gradually turned into a centre of terrorist activity. Their radicalisation culminated in the decision to blow up the Azrieli towers. The reason was indignation at the words of the Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir about the intention to build the Third Temple on the site of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The terrorists had carefully planned the attack, including researching the amount of explosives needed to bring down the towers by detonating a car parked outside the complex. Fortunately, however, they were apprehended at an early stage of planning.
Itamar Ben-Gvir called for the immediate demolition of the defendants’ houses in Taiba, but Shabak did not support this demand.
TimeUkraineIsrael has previously reported on this incident.
