2 female Bedouins joined ISIS, planned attack in Israel

Israel arrested two Israeli Bedouin women on suspicion of being in contact with ISIS and planning an attack on its behalf. 

By: Aryeh Savir, World Israel News

Israeli security forces arrested two female Bedouins from southern Israel who had joined the Islamic State (ISIS) terror group and were planning an attack.

The Shin Bet (Israel’s Security Agency) announced Monday that Rahma Al-Assad and Tasnin Al-Assad, both 19 from Lakiya in the Negev Desert, were arrested last month on charges of maintaining connections with a terror agent.

The investigation revealed that the two women were asked over the course of the past year by ISIS operatives from abroad to carry out an attack and explore various venues and times. One suggestion was an attack on a New Year’s celebration.

The women planned to leave Israel and join ISIS in the battlefield. They also published online content praising the Islamic State and inciting attacks against Israel and Jews.

They were indicted at a Beer Sheva court on Monday.

ISIS was declared an illegal organization in 2014 by then-Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon.

Israeli security forces have exposed several incidents of Bedouins joining ISIS-inspired terror elements, including four Bedouin teachers working in the Israeli school system in southern Israel who were arrested in July 2015 for distributing ISIS propaganda among their students as well as other educators in the Negev town of Hura.

Most recently, Khaled Abu Jaudah and Zahi Abu Jaudah, Israeli Bedouin citizens who reside in the Negev, were arrested for the attempted abduction and murder of IDF soldier Ron Kokia in November.