Shin Bet arrests two Israelis over alleged ISIS ties and overseas training plot

Israel’s Shin Bet security service and the Israel Police have arrested a 20-year-old resident of northern Israel and one other, accused of pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group and planning to travel abroad for terrorist training, according to a joint statement released by the two agencies.

In a joint operation carried out over recent weeks, Shin Bet officers and police from the Northern District’s central unit arrested Kinan Azaiza, a resident of Dabouria, along with another suspect from the northern city of Acre. The two were taken in for questioning on suspicion of membership in the Islamic State organization and contact with a foreign agent acting on its behalf.

According to the statement, intelligence gathered by investigators indicated that the suspects planned to “illegally travel to an enemy country and conduct training or instruction for terrorist purposes” and that they had already carried out preparatory actions toward that goal. Authorities said the arrests were made before the plans could be realized.

During his interrogation, Azaiza allegedly admitted that he had sworn allegiance to Islamic State “in order to realize the organization’s goals” and expressed a willingness to carry out security-related activities on behalf of the group. Investigators said he also considered conducting terrorist attacks against Israeli soldiers.

The Shin Bet said the suspect maintained contact with operatives abroad on matters related to Islamic State, learned how to manufacture pipe bombs and explosives, and planned to leave Israel to receive further training. These activities, the statement said, underscored the seriousness of the threat posed by locally based supporters of the group.

Security officials warned that since the start of the war, there has been “an increase in the level of threat from the Islamic State organization and its supporters in Israeli territory,” alongside what they described as a growing trend of Israeli Arab involvement in terrorism influenced by the effects of the conflict.

An indictment against Azaiza is expected to be filed by the Northern District Attorney’s Office at the Nazareth District Court. The Shin Bet and Israel Police said they view “with great seriousness the expansion of the phenomenon in which Israeli citizens seek to act on behalf of terrorist organizations against Israelis” and pledged to continue acting “resolutely” to locate and prosecute those involved, whether directed from abroad or operating inside Israel.