The Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) has lifted a gag order and revealed that seven Arabs from northern Israel have been arrested and indicted for setting up an Islamic State (ISIS) terror cell.
The cell was based in the predominantly Arab city of Sakhnin in the Galilee and was headed by a lawyer, Adnan al a-Din of Nazareth.
The suspects were arrested in November and December.
Al a-Din was former public defender before being fired for pro-terror activity. He formed the ISIS-style group and declared himself as “Islamic State’s chief of staff in Palestine.”
The cell members allegedly met at a horse farm in the Galilee and trained to put together firebombs and other weapons and bought sheep to practice slaughter.
They also were indicted for raising money to pay an entrance fee of $1500 to join the Islamic State.
Israeli security officials nabbed one of the Israeli Arab-ISIS members last year at Ben Gurion Airport, where he was scheduled to fly with $10,000 for the Islamic State. He was identified as Karim abu Salah of Sakhnin, who also was charged with planning to kill Israeli security officials and Israeli Druze.
Other members of the cell include his brother Charif, their cousin Aa’al Mohammed abu Salah, and another relative named Mohammed Ibrahim abu Salah, who also is a son of the former mayor of Sakhnin.
The other suspect was identified as Hosam Marisat.
Except for a-Din, all of the members of the cell are age 30 or in their 20s.
In an interview with Yediot Acharonot last September, a-Din defended his backing of terror during the Israeli Protective Edge counter-terror operation against Hamas in Gaza.
“I am doing God’s work and will continue to support [ISIS] as long as their actions follow God’s decrees. More and more people will support ISIS the moment they understand it is a national phenomena. Most Muslims do not know that there is a stable state with clear policies. This is a state that believes in the Quran and the Prophet Mohammed.”
The cell had met with in northern Israel with radical Muslim cleric Sheikh Salafi Jihadi, who called on them to recruit more members and to encourage jihad.
The Shin Bet also revealed a Bedouin man from the Negev was arrested in November for belong to ISIS. He confessed to meeting with ISIS terrorists in Jordan, where he recently earned a degree in medicine.