An Israeli Arab from Umm al-Fahm was arrested by the Shin Bet and Israel Police after he was recruited by Hamas to conduct a bombing attack on a bus in the Hadera area, the Shin Bet 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, Mahajna 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 Mahajna 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.
The Gidonim (33) unit in the Lahav 433 unit arrests Hamas operative Muhammad Nadir Mahajna. (Credit: Israel Police)
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 Mahajna’s arrest, releasing footage of the arrest on Wednesday.
Multiple Israeli citizens arrested in past year for working with Hamas
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 Israel.
The Shin Bet believes that both Mahajna and the two citizens arrested in January were being directed by the same framework in Hamas.
“The investigation of the affair once again reveals the efforts of Hamas to promote terrorist activity in Israeli territory, while trying to publicly distance its involvement, at the same time as falsely presenting that it wants to promote the calming moves in the Gaza Strip. All this, while cynically exploiting the population of Israeli citizens and recruiting them for the benefit of terrorist activity,” said a source in the Shin Bet.
The Shin Bet stressed that the responsibility for these attempted terrorist operations falls on Hamas and especially Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas in Gaza.
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.
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