Al-Qaeda Plot to Blow Up U.S. Embassy and Jerusalem Convention Center Foiled
“Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6)
The Shin Bet foiled a plot by al-Qaeda operatives in Israel to attack the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv. (Photo: Wiki Commons)
The Shin Bet announced Wednesday that it had successfully foiled a plot by three al-Qaeda operatives operating in east Jerusalem. The three men, of Palestinian origin, were recruited online by an al-Qaeda official in Gaza. The Shin Bet confirmed that the men were planning to attack the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, the Jerusalem International Convention Center, a bus traveling between Jerusalem and Ma’aleh Adumim, as well as emergency responders who would have arrived at the scene of the attacks.
al-Qaeda leader al-Zawahiri (Photo: FBI)
The al-Qaeda Gazan recruiter, named Ariv al-Sham, contacted each of the three Palestinian men separately and used each of them as an independent terrorist cell. The main methods Sham used to communicate with the three operatives was through Skype and Facebook. The Shin Bet believes that al-Sham received his orders directly from Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaeda.
The Shin Bet stated that the plans were disrupted at the early stages of planning. However, Sham was very successful at how quick he was able to recruit and set up new terrorist cells, coordinate activities and money transfers, and use the internet to communicate with the three Palestinian operatives.
Iyad Khalil Abu-Sara, 23, of Ras Hamis of east Jerusalem, was arrested on December 25. Abu-Sara, who has an Israeli ID card, admitted under interrogation that he volunteered to carry out an attack on an Israeli bus traveling between Jerusalem and Ma’aleh Adumim. Detailing the plan of attack, Abu-Sara explained that terrorists would shoot out the bus’s tires, causing it to overturn, and then gunning down at close range surviving passengers.
Abu-Sara is also responsible for helping to orchestrate a simultaneous double suicide bombing. One suicide bombers was to be sent to the Jerusalem International Convention Center and a second to the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv. Emergency responders arriving to the scene of the suicide attacks were then to be killed via a suicide truck bomb placed near the vicinity of the attacks.
Jerusalem International Convention Center (Photo: Michael Jacobson/ Wiki Commons)
The individuals who were to carry out the suicide attacks were foreign terrorists. Sham and Abu-Sara planned to bring the foreign terrorists into Israel using forged Russian passports and have them pose as tourists. Abu-Sara was to travel to Syria via Turkey to undergo combat training and explosives manufacturing. He was then supposed to return to Israel where it was his responsibility to prepare the suicide bomb vets and suicide truck bomb that the foreign al-Qaeda operatives were to use. In preparation for his explosives training, Abu-Sara had already begun virtual training using computer files Sham sent him from Gaza.
The second operative, Rubin Abu-Nagma, was to be responsible for kidnapping an Israeli soldier from the Jerusalem Central Bus Station. A married father of four, Abu-Nagma was also planning to bomb a residential building of Israeli Jews in the Abu Tor neighborhood in Jerusalem. He also received virtual training in bomb manufacturing from Sham. Abu-Nagma was also arrested on December 25.
The third operative, Ala Anam, 21, is a resident of Aqaba, a town near Jenin. Anam was contacted by Sham using social media. He was in talks with Sham to set up a Salafi-jihadi terrorist cell in Samaria to carry out future terrorist attacks. Anam was arrested on January 7.
The U.S. State Department commented on the foiled attack on its Tel Aviv Embassy. An official told the Jerusalem Post that the U.S. is “closely monitoring the situation.” The official also added “The U.S. Embassy routinely employs a range of measures to safeguard U.S. citizens and all of our employees and their dependents. We have a high degree of confidence in our own security staff and in the Israeli security forces.”
The death of Osama bin Laden did not bring about the end of al-Qaeda. Its new leader, al-Zawahiri, has morphed the organization so that it branches out and conduct attacks around the world using the internet to coordinate these attacks. This allows al-Qaeda to recruit would be terrorists anywhere in the world and broadens the scope and nature of potential terrorist attacks. As seen by the success of Sham, the internet is now becoming a major weapon in the arsenal of al-Qaeda.
Main al-Qaeda strongholds around the world. (Photo: BBC/ Wiki Commons)
The Shin Bet points out that the foiled attack is a major indication of how the Gaza Strip has become a nest of Salafi-jihadist sympathizers and a base for al-Qaeda affiliated organizations. Hundreds of Salafi-jihadists who reside in Gaza have considerable access to rockets and weapons used to attack Egypt and Israel. Hamas allows these Salafi organizations to operate in Gaza “so long as they are not targeting them,” says the Shin Bet.
The civil was in Syria has also allowed al-Qaeda to deepen its roots in countries closer to Israel. Militant Islamic jihadist rebel organizations have taken over entire cities in Syria, forcing Sharia law on its citizens and persecuting Syrians of other religions. Recently, reports from Syria have indicated that many Armenian Christians are being forced by these rebel groups to convert to Islam or die.
Sham, the mastermind behind the terrorist plots, is still at large. The Shin Bet believes that Ariv al-Sham is a cover name used to hide his real identity.
Read more at http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/al-qaeda-plot-blow-u-s-embassy-jerusalem-convention-center-foiled/#kJWLT425HxMhXURC.99
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