Cleared for publication: Two Israeli Arabs were indicted Thursday after they traveled to Turkey and attempted to join the Da’esh (ISIS) terror organization in Syria, according to the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet).
Over the past two years, more than 40 Israeli Arabs have joined the terrorist organization, the Shin Bet reported. The indictment filed this week noted the rising trend with concern and commented there is a “real possibility the ideological and military training could be exploited for the purpose of terrorist activity against Israelis.”
Of three wannabe Da’esh fighters who had apparently planned to join the terror group in May, one was caught and arrested, but his two companions succeeded in reaching Syria.
Feras Sheritach, 19, a resident of Akev near eastern Jerusalem was arrested earlier this year after he had already returned to Israel. Sheritach failed to reach Syria because his passport was expired when he arrived at Istanbul airport along with his brother and cousin, according to the indictment documents.
He decided instead to return to Israel to renew the document – and was arrested in a joint operation by the Shin Bet and Israel Police. He has been charged with attempting to join an outlawed organization. His brother and cousin remained in Turkey, meanwhile, and successfully crossed the border into Da’esh-controlled areas of Syria. Their identities have not been released.
A second Israeli Arab, 21-year-old Hamis Adnan Hamis Salameh of Ramle, was arrested last month after arriving in Ben Gurion International Airport on an extradition order executed together with Turkish authorities. He too was indicted Thursday, in Lod District Court, on charges of contact with a foreign agent and attempting to enter an enemy state.
According to the Shin Bet, Salameh confessed to interrogators that as with Sheritach, he also planned to join Da’esh after watching recruiting and propaganda videos on the Internet, later making contact online with one of the group’s recruitment members via Twitter.
Salameh was arrested by Turkish police in the border town of Adana just a few hours before he was scheduled to cross the border into Syria, according to a Shin Bet statement.
Last month, the Shin Bet announced the indictment of six suspected Da’esh (ISIS) members from the Negev Bedouin town of Hura. Five of the six were teachers and allegedly used their positions to spread the ISIS philosophy and propaganda among students and teachers.
All six were accused of sharing the Da’esh doctrine with their family members and associates. They were charged with distributing materials for an illegal organization; support for a terrorist organization; conspiracy to commit a crime and illegally exiting the country. Those who were teachers were brought to a hearing at the Education Ministry and their teaching licenses were revoked as well.
