The police and Shin Bet reported today (Thursday) that a bombing attack at the Azrieli Mall in Tel Aviv planned by five Israeli Arabs from Taybeh, who had established a terrorist network affiliated with ISIS, had been thwarted. An indictment will be filed against them in the coming days in accordance with the findings of the investigation.
The security forces conducted a month-long undercover investigation of the five Taybe residents, suspected of establishing a terrorist squad whose objective, among other things, was to carry out a car bomb attack in Tel Aviv's mall towers under the banner of ISIS.
The security affair began with the arrest of infrastructure leaders Mahmoud Azem and Ibrahim Sheikh Yusuf, residents of Taybeh, who adhere to the ideology of the ISIS terrorist organization, and as the combined investigation developed, it emerged that the two had intentions to go to an ISIS combat zone abroad and maintained contacts with foreign ISIS elements. It was also revealed that three other Taybeh residents – Sajed Masarwa, Abdullah Bransi and Abd al-Karim Bransi – had been recruited to promote terrorist activity in Israel.
After collecting the evidence, the Gidon unit at Lahav 433, together with Taybeh police officers, arrested the five suspects and seized various weapons.
Meanwhile, their interrogation revealed that the suspects had watched videos of terrorist attacks in Syria online and discussed the amount of explosives required to topple the Azrieli Towers. It should be emphasized that the plot was exposed and thwarted in the initial stages of its implementation.