“Though they plot evil against you and devise wicked schemes, they cannot succeed.” (Psalm 21:11)
Israel announced Thursday that its Shin Bet security service had foiled a terrorist attack on Jerusalem’s Teddy Soccer Stadium, home to Israeli soccer team Beitar Jerusalem.
The 2013 UEFA European Under 21 Final at Israel’s Teddy Stadium
The Shin Bet said it had arrested 30 members of the Hamas group in September. Some of the Islamic group had received weapons and explosives training from Hamas militants in Jordan and the Gaza Strip.
“They received military training and were given missions. At the start of 2014, they moved in and began taking action. Their missions included meetings with operatives, preparing [terrorist] infrastructure, and gathering intelligence on targets,” the Shin Bet said.
Hamas officials weaved and funded a web of operatives in Judea and Samaria from headquarters in Turkey as it planned to execute a major terror attack against the stadium.
The Hamas ring’s plans also included kidnapping Israelis both inside and outside the country, detonating car bombs, and committing roadside attacks. (Times of Israel)
The light rail commuter train runs through both Arab and Jewish sections of Jerusalem.
The operatives were also planning an attack against the Jerusalem light rail, the scene of two deadly terror attacks last month, which involved the vehicular murders of several Jerusalem residents along the rail.
The Palestinian Authority TV has since hailed the terrorists behind these attacks as martyrs, in a summary report that also hailed the two murderers of five at the Har Nof synagogue as “victims.” (Palestinian Media Watch)
According to the Shin Bet, all of the ring’s past attempts to attack Israelis failed, including two time-detonator bombing plots designated for August 31, which did not harm anyone. The Shin Bet also identified the ring’s leader as Saleh al-Arouri, a Hamas operative who was deported from Judea-Samaria in 2010 and has since been in Turkey. (JPost)
In their statement, the Shin Bet and Israeli Defense Force officials rebuked Turkey and Qatar—where Hamas head Khaled Mashaal sat out the Gaza war—of enabling terror activity and allowing it to continue unchecked, which seems to be their intention.
Hamas’ Turkey headquarters oversaw the military training of the operatives in Jordan, Turkey, Syria and the Gaza Strip.
In Jordan, friends of Hamas members who had key skills, were recruited; for example, Manaf al-Rahman Ajabara, 28 years old, was recruited while studying engineering and is now under arrest in Israel.
After entering Gaza through tunnels from Egypt, the recruits learned how to use weapons, analyze and navigate terrain, and keep information secret.
A secret stash of Palestinian weapons uncovered by the IDF in July.
The Shin Bet said they learned in Turkey about “spheres of operations, aimed at carrying out terrorist attacks within Israel, the West Bank and overseas.”
In Jordan, they continued their weapons training, including how to make bombs.
Once they arrived in the West Bank, their mission included locating apartments for operation centers and bomb making labs, as well as identifying people to recruit and train as local terrorist cells.
Orders to execute plots came from operatives in Turkey. (JPost)
The IDF’s elite undercover unit Duvdevan took the helm in the raids against the 30 Hamas members, seizing bomb-making tools, ammunition and two M-16 rifles in their possession.
