A Palestinian infiltrator arrested in a joint operation by the Shin Bet and the Central Investigative Unit of the Northern District Police has admitted to trying to kidnap Israelis. Murad Mahmoud Hassan Ali-Hassin, 25, from the Palestinian village of Kabatiya, near Jenin, has also been accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at civilian cars in the western Galilee, as well as several other security crimes.

Murad Mahmoud Hassan Ali-Hassin

Ali-Hassin is identified with the Islamic Jihad and was imprisoned in 2008-2009 for intent to stab a soldier on duty at a guard post.

After his recent arrest, Ali-Hassin was interrogated, and admitted that last month he tried several times to execute a terror attack in the Misgav Regional Council, including kidnapping Israeli citizens. On April 19, he attempted to break into a home in the community of Avtalion, near Carmiel in the Galilee. He was armed with a knife and intended to kidnap one of the family members living there to use as a bargaining chip to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners. However, members of the household drove him away, foiling his plan.

During his interrogation, Ali-Hassin also admitted that he threw Molotov cocktails at a car on the road between Avtalion and Mislahit Junction on April 20, and at a car near Kibbutz Eshbal on April 21. No one was wounded in either attack. He said he also tried unsuccessfully to set a nearby grove ablaze using Molotov cocktails.

Ali-Hassin appeared to be operating alone, although he told investigators that he tried to persuade other Palestinian infiltrators in Israel to join him in terror attacks against Jews. While he was under interrogation, a number of other Palestinian illegal residents were arrested under suspicion that they had been aware of Ali-Hassin’s activity and possibly even involved in some of the incidents.

The court-ordered gag order on the investigation was lifted Thursday. The Shin Bet and Israel Police authorized the announcement that Ali-Hassin had been indicted on serious counts including attempted kidnapping with intent to commit murder or blackmail, home invasion, grave assault, illegal possession of weapons, and intentional endangerment of human lives on a public thoroughfare. Public defender Haim Yitzhaki, who is representing Ali-Hassin, told Israel Hayom: “We haven’t yet met with him or review the material from the investigation. When we receive the material, we will respond in kind.”

According to the Shin Bet and the police, the results of the investigation highlighted the risk posed by infiltrators entering Israel. They stressed the importance of closing breaches in the security fence that are used to gain illegal entry into the country.

The police and the Shin Bet also emphasized that Palestinian infiltrators have recently been increasingly involved in terror attacks, saying that the kidnapping and murder of the soldier Tomer Hazan in September 2013, the murder of the soldier Eden Atias in Afula in November 2013, and the pipe bomb attack on a Tel Aviv bus in December 2013, had all been carried out by Palestinians residing in Israel illegally.

View original Israel Hayom publication at: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=17687