Arabs Indicted for Attacking Mispallel on Shabbos

Three Arabs were indicted Sunday for attacking a Jew on Shabbos. The incident occurred on Derech Shechem in the Shimon Hatzaddik area of Yerushalayim, as a Jewish man emerged from shul wrapped in a tallis. The three Arab minors crossed the street when they saw him and, as he passed by, began throwing rocks at him.

Although the victim was injured, he gave chase to the young terrorists, who ran away from the scene of their crime. Police on patrol saw the man running and quickly grasped the situation, carrying out a number of actions to catch the terrorists. One of the gang was found hiding in the yard of a home in the area a short time later. He was taken in for questioning, where he quickly informed on his fellow rock-throwers.

Sunday morning, at the request of police, a Yerushalayim district court extended the remand of the three young minors, who reside in an Arab neighborhood of Yerushalayim. Police said that after an initial investigation they had determined that the attack took place for nationalistic reasons. In a statement, police stressed that they would not tolerate religious- or ethnic-based attacks on anyone, and the suspects would be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Also Sunday, investigators of the Israel Police, the Shin Bet and the IDF announced that they had arrested an Israeli Arab who was working with Islamic State. The Arab was arrested three weeks ago, and news of the arrest was cleared for publication Sunday. The 24-year-old Arab, a resident of the village of Manda, north of Nazareth, is being held.

The Arab, Mahmad Ahmed Azzam, was arrested in the wake of information that reached security officials regarding his support for IS. He had been in touch with members of the group, and was actively planning to leave Israel to join IS in Iraq. In a statement, the Shin Bet said that such activity was “a serious security concern. We will continue to investigate suspects and impose the necessary actions in order to prevent the spread of IS in Israel, as well as to prevent Israelis from going to fight IS.”