Terrorist planned to kidnap soldiers – and were arrested

Released to the press: during May 2012, the General Security Service, with the help of the IDF and the Israeli police, discovered a terrorist squad from the village of Hizma, north of Jerusalem, who made a few attempts to kidnap under serious circumstances.

The squad planned to kidnap an IDF soldier, to hold him in a hidden home or cave in the area of the village, and then to transfer him, in turn for a profit, to the members of senior Palestinian detainees, so that they could use the kidnapped soldier to bargain for the release of prisoners, with an emphasis on Ahmad Sadat, the leader of the People's Front Organization.

At the head of the squad stood Rajab Musa Zalah Aldin, born in 1960, resident of Hizma, who is identified with the People's Front Organization for the freedom of Palestine.

During their investigation at the security service it stemmed that the squad had planned the kidnapping in detail and even made a few trials to execute it, but without success. According to the plan, the members of the squad would stop their car next to a soldier, and by means of violence drag him into their car, including hitting him with a metal rod which they kept in the car. Besides the iron rod, the squad prepared towards executing the kidnapping using handcuffs to tie the hijacked's hands, and a cloth to cover his eyes.w

A first attempt by the squad was on Rosh Chodesh Teves this year at the Ma'ale Edumim junction. The members of the squad stopped their car at the junction and waited there for ten minutes. Since they didn't notice any soldier, they returned home.

About a week later, on the 9th of Teves, kidnap attempts were done close to Mahmas and in the area of Ma'ale Edumim. The members of the squad travelled by car in the area of Mahmas with the goal of locating a soldier. During their travelling they noticed a woman settler who stood alone at the Mahmas junction. The two made a U-turn and when they passed next to the settler, they discussed the possibility of kidnapping her, but this possibility was rejected in light of their wish to kidnap a soldier. Further on, they traveled towards Ma'ale Edumim. After not noticing soldiers next to the junction there, they went back home.

Two days later, on the 11th Teves this year, a kidnapping attempt took place at the Ma'ale Edumim junction. The members of the squad travelled towards Ma'ale Edumim, at the intersection they made a u-turn but didn't see soldiers, even in the close by fuel station they didn't find what they were looking for, and therefore went home.

Since they were unsuccessful in finding an object for kidnapping, the squad considered to perform a kidnapping attack inside Israel, in one of the bus stop stations between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and then smuggling the kidnapped soldier back into the areas beyond the Green Line. The arrest of the squad's members thwarted the continuation of their attempts to materialize a kidnapping attack.

An indictment was presented to the military court in Yehudah against the squad, which attributes three attempts at kidnapping under severe circumstances. The two are arrested until the end of the legal procedures in their issue.

It should be noted that the squad's activity joins a few cases which were revealed lately, from which one can learn about the effort which the People's Front Organization is making with the purpose of releasing Ahmad Sadat, the leader of the organization who is imprisoned in Israel. The affair once again depicts the high motivation of the Palestinian terrorist organizations to perform kidnapping attacks, and the level of threat which is foreseen as a result.

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!