Israeli intelligence foils plot to assassinate Netanyahu, Jerusalem Mayor, other officials
The Israel Security Agency said a plot to assassinate the PM, orchestrated from Syria, also targeted Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat.
By: World Israel News Staff and AP
Shin Bet, Israel’s security agency, said Tuesday that in recent weeks it thwarted a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
A resident of a Palestinian refugee camp in east Jerusalem is among those in custody for his involvement in the plot, orchestrated from Syria, to harm Netanyahu and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, the Shin Bet said.
The security agency arrested Muhammad Jamal Rashdeh, born in 1988, a resident of the Shuafat refugee camp who holds an Israeli ID card and was previously imprisoned for terrorist offenses.
Rashdeh also collected intelligence on his Syrian handler’s behalf to target the US Consulate in Jerusalem and visiting Canadian officials in Israel who had come to train Palestinian Authority forces in Judea and Samaria, the Shin Bet said.
The plan involved sneaking in an operative from Jordan and “significant terrorist activity,” which was foiled, the agency said.
Additional suspects were arrested who, under investigation, verified the suspicions against the cell. Their detention thwarted the aforesaid planned terrorist attacks.
Barkat said he was kept in the loop throughout the investigation and did not change his routine at all. “No threat will deter us,” he stated.
In March, 2017, the Shin Bet arrested a terrorist connected with the Lebanon-based Hezbollah who was reportedly involved in a plot to carry out attacks in Israel.
There was no immediate comment from Netanyahu.
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