Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Israel Arrests Palestinian Militants Inspired by Islamic State

Israeli forces have detained three Islamic State-inspired militants in the occupied West Bank, the first known Palestinian cell linked to the Syria- and Iraq-based insurgent group, the Shin Bet internal security service said on Sunday.

It said the three men, all in their early 20s and from Hebron, were arrested in November and told interrogators they planned to attack Israeli soldiers and a Jewish settler.

The Shin Bet statement described the three as “identifying with” Islamic State, but made no mention of them having left the West Bank to meet with members of the insurgent group.

A Shin Bet official said this was the first case Israel knew of in which Palestinians planned attacks in the name of Islamic State, whose bases in Syria and Iraq have drawn dozens of foreign volunteers, including Palestinians and Israeli Arabs.

The three detainees are to be tried in Israeli military courts. It was not immediately clear from the Shin Bet statement whether they had been assigned lawyers or how they would plead to terrorism charges planned against them.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.