A dozen preventive arrests of ISIS followers in Israel

Following two ISIS-associated terrorist attacks in Israeli cities, a large police-Shin Bet force Monday night rounded up 12 known ISIS followers in three towns – Umm al Fahm, Sakhnin and Nazareth. Some had already served jail sentences for actively joining the jihadist terrorist group in the past, including serving in ISIS ranks in Syria. These suspects will be retained in administrative detention to pre-empt more terrorist attacks like the one in Beersheba a week ago that claimed 4 civilian lives and the assault in Hadera on Sunday, in which two Israeli police officers were shot dead and six others injured. Interrogating these suspects may also uncover the extent of the jihadist organization’s clandestine cells in Israeli Arab communities.

Five suspected confederates were initially arrested in Umm al Fahm, including relatives of the two gunmen in Umm al Fahm. A huge arsenal of guns was found in the gunmen’s possession after they were taken out in a gunbattle with two undercover cops.

The two officers, Shirel Abukarat, from Netanya, and Yezen Falah from the Druze Galilee village of Kisra Sumei – both aged 19 – were laid to rest on Monday.