JERUSALEM — Israeli prosecutors charged a university teacher on Monday with planning coordinated attacks to kill “hundreds” of Arab citizens of Israel and Palestinians in the West Bank, the state attorney’s office said.
The defendant, a man in his 60s from Petah Tikva whose identity is protected by a court-imposed gag order, is a mathematics lecturer at Bar-Ilan University outside Tel Aviv. Prosecutors said he allegedly developed the deadly plan over the past three years, motivated by nationalist ideology.
He was arrested two weeks ago.
According to the indictment, the defendant called the plan AY”T, a Hebrew acronym for “Am ya’aseh transfer,” or “The people will carry out transfer.” Prosecutors said its aim was mass displacement of Arab citizens of Israel.
Israeli Arabs are the descendants of Palestinians who stayed put during the 1948 war, which led to the statehood of Israel.
The man was charged in the Central District Court in Lod with preparing to commit an act of terrorism under the Counterterrorism Law, extortion by threats, and obstruction of justice. Prosecutors asked the court to keep him in custody until the conclusion of legal proceedings against him.
According to the indictment, the suspect developed his plan from early February 2023 until his arrest about two weeks ago. The prosecution said it was initially fueled by the May 2021 riots during Operation Guardian of the Walls and intensified after the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, which was first called Operation Swords of Iron.
His idea was to activate terrorist cells simultaneously in different locations. The prosecution said the defendant had also conducted a reconnaissance tour around Tuba-Zanghariya, a Bedouin town near Safed in the North, to examine possible access and attack routes, according to the Jerusalem Post.
The alleged plan envisioned 72 Jewish attackers, including the defendant, at least half of whom would have firearms licenses. They were to be divided into 12 cells of six people each and use a variety of weapons, including handguns, rifles, axes, and hammers, the newspaper said.
The intended targets were mixed cities and Arab communities throughout Israel, including Tuba-Zanghariya, which the indictment describes as a primary target.
The plan also called for the terrorist cells to receive assistance and support coordinated in advance with subversive elements who would be recruited from within the IDF, including the bombardment of Arab population centers by the IAF, Artillery Corps, and Armored Corps.
According to the indictment, the practical section of the plan instructed members of the public to join in “carrying out mass killings and rapidly seizing areas of friction, roads, entrances to and exits from Arab communities, mixed cities, and hospitals…”
The simultaneous mass terrorist attacks, amplified and publicized on social media in real time, were intended to cause all Arab citizens of Israel, including Bedouin, as well as Palestinians living in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, to flee or be permanently expelled to Jordan, Lebanon, and the Gaza Strip, according to the indictment.
The defendant tried for about a year and a half to recruit supporters to join him, but none agreed, the indictment states.
The indictment further alleges that the defendant tried to conceal his activities and prevent the plan from being discovered. Among other measures, he allegedly wrote his documents by hand rather than on a computer, wore a protective mask, hat, and sunglasses when meeting prospective recruits, used a false name, and borrowed cellphones from passersby to contact others.
Bar-Ilan University released a statement, condemning the acts and saying the lecturer would be suspended “immediately.”
The statement said the university “condemns in the strongest possible terms and is deeply appalled” by the attributed acts to the lecturer. It called on the authorities to “pursue the matter to the fullest extent of the law, should the allegations be substantiated.”
“The university has, and will continue to have, zero tolerance for conduct of this nature – conduct that is fundamentally incompatible with the values we share as Jews, as Israelis, and as human beings, and that stands in clear opposition to the values of Bar-Ilan University,” it said.
“The lecturer will be suspended from his duties with immediate effect, pending the conclusion of the legal proceedings,” the university said.
Source: Saudi Gazette