Arab Israelis arrested for smuggling explosives and weapons from Jordan

Terror groups in Judea and Samaria have been using more powerful reverse-engineered Iranian improvised explosive devices.

By Pesach Benson, TPS

Israeli authorities arrested three men — including two Arab Israelis — accused of smuggling guns and explosive devices for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group, in early August, the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) announced on Tuesday. The information was cleared for publication as prosecutors filed indictments in Nazareth District Court.

The Israeli nationals were identified as Samer Knoh and Osama Haruf, both residents of the Tulkarm area. The third suspect, also from the Tulkarm area, was not identified.

The Shin Bet said the three were arrested on August 3 while smuggling weapons across the Jordanian border. They were caught with guns and ammunition. Investigators discovered the two Israelis had been recruited by Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives based in the Jenin refugee camp.

Further investigation revealed that Knoh and Haruf had transferred weapons and money to terror operatives in the Nur Shams refugee camp, near Tulkarm. The suspects also told interrogators details about terror attacks being planned in the Nur Shams camp.

Terror groups in Judea and Samaria have been using more powerful reverse-engineered Iranian improvised explosive devices (IEDs). At the end of August, four Israeli soldiers were wounded by an IED during an operation in Shechem (Nablus) escorting Jewish worshipers to Joseph’s Tomb.

In recent weeks, Israeli forces intercepted two attempts to smuggle in Iranian explosives.

In the first instance, four Arab Israeli citizens were caught in Lod with Claymore mine-type explosives directly linked to Hezbollah. In the second case, just three days later, two large explosives were seized during an attempt to smuggle them from Jordan into Israel.