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Shin Bet uncovers Hezbollah recruitment in West Bank
Israel’s domestic intelligence agency yesterday announced that it had disrupted a terrorist cell in the West Bank attempting to recruit members to carry out terror attacks on Israeli targets.
A Shin Bet statement said nine Palestinians had been arrested for planning attacks, having been recruited by Hezbollah, largely on social media. The leader of a cell in the West Bank city of Kalkilya was named as 18-year-old Mustafa Hindi. He was reportedly connected to a Hezbollah handler known as “Bilal” initially via Facebook and then by encrypted e-mail. On “Bilal’s” instruction, Hindi recruited several members from Kalkilya, monitored IDF patrols and trained recruits on the use of weapons and explosive devices.
The Shin Bet released a statement claiming that “in recent years” Hezbollah has been unsuccessfully trying to establish “terrorist infrastructure” in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.
The agency added: “As a part of these attempts, the organisation uses the internet to instruct members to carry out attacks on Israeli targets and set up terrorist groups.”
A Hezbollah operative in the Gaza Strip managed to recruit several West Bank Palestinians, including a 36-year-old man, Osama Najem. The Shin Bet says that Najem was paid around £700 to carry out a suicide attack on an Israeli bus, but was arrested before doing so. The suspected Palestinians were all detained over the past several weeks.
In addition, Hezbollah is also said to have made contact with several Arab Israeli citizens via social media, with the intention of recruiting them for terrorist activities. The Shin Bet said that those involved signed statements saying they understood that continued contact with Hezbollah would constitute illegal activity.
In January, the Shin Bet announced it arrested a five-person terror cell in the West Bank, which was receiving orders from the son of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Hezbollah has also been responsible for attacking Israeli targets abroad, most notably a bus bombing which killed Israeli tourists in Bulgaria in 2012.