Bar-Ilan professor charged with planning mass Arab terror attack

The State Attorney's Office filed an indictment Monday at the Lod District Court against a mathematics lecturer at Bar-Ilan University, a man in his 60s from Petach Tikva, who over several years devised and planned an extremist and murderous scheme to carry out mass terror attacks against hundreds of Arab Israeli citizens, including Bedouins, as well as Arabs living in eastern Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria. The defendant called his plan "AYT", Hebrew initials for "the nation will do transfer."

The Central District Prosecutor's Office charges the defendant with security offenses including preparation to commit an act of terror under the Counter-Terrorism Law, extortion by threats, and obstruction of justice, and is requesting the court hold him in custody until the conclusion of legal proceedings.

According to the indictment filed by prosecutors Roi Reiss and Tomer Steinberg of the Central District Prosecutor's Office, against the backdrop of the "Guardian of the Walls" riots and later, with greater intensity, during the "Swords of Iron" war, the defendant decided, out of nationalist-ideological motives, to plan and execute numerous simultaneous terror attacks that would cause the deaths of hundreds of Arab Israeli citizens, including Bedouins, throughout the country, as well as Arabs living in eastern Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria. His goal was to cause their flight and permanent expulsion to Jordan, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.

For over three years, from early February 2023 until his arrest about two weeks ago, he conceived and prepared an organized, thorough and detailed plan, which he called "AYT - the nation will do transfer." His preparation for the attacks included advance reconnaissance tours, drafting documents detailing the method of operation and its justifications, and attempting to recruit activists who would participate in the terror attack.

According to his plan, 72 Jewish terror operatives, at least half of them licensed gun owners including himself, would be divided into 12 terror cells (six operatives per cell). The operatives would arm themselves with various weapons, including pistols, rifles, axes and hammers, and would launch a surprise mass terror attack in mixed cities and Arab towns throughout Israel. The plan also called for the terror cells to receive pre-coordinated assistance and backup from subversive elements recruited from within the IDF, including bombing Arab population centers by the Air Force, Artillery Corps and Armored Corps.

The indictment reveals that in the practical dimension, which he called "how to do AYT here and now," the defendant presented instructions for public participation in "carrying out mass killing, rapid takeover of friction zones, roads, exits/entrances to Arab villages, mixed cities and hospitals... not to have mercy even on their cruel and disgusting women and children, not to stop in the face of pleas, to harden hearts, any halt will lead to an unbearable situation of chaos and then a massacre of Jews..."

According to the plan, the mass simultaneous terror attacks, alongside real-time echoing and publication of the acts on social media, would lead to the flight of all Arab Israeli citizens, including Bedouins, and Palestinians living in eastern Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, beyond the borders of the State of Israel.

In order to advance his plan and execute it, he tried for about a year and a half to recruit supporters and partners, without success, and also conducted an advance reconnaissance tour around the village of Tuba-Zangariyye, to study and examine the optimal access and attack routes to the village, which he wanted to include as a central target in the plan.

According to the secret outline he devised for recruiting terror operatives who would carry out the planned terror attacks with him, the defendant planned to approach Moshe Feiglin, who is running in the upcoming elections to the 26th Knesset as head of the "Zehut" list and as number two on the joint list of "Zehut" and "Religious Zionism," to recruit him to the plan, and subsequently to recruit additional activists with Feiglin's help.

The defendant sought to summon activists who would be identified and marked in advance to an election rally of the "Zehut" party, where during the rally it would be made clear to the invitees that they were being recruited for a terror attack in which they would participate the following day. The activists would be given a briefing that would include detailed operational instructions and guidelines for and toward carrying out the terror attacks.

The defendant came to two public events held by Feiglin and tried to schedule a meeting with him and convey a summary of the plan, but Feiglin did not respond to any of his approaches.

About a month ago, as the election date approached, the defendant wrote an extortion letter addressed to Feiglin, in which he leveled criticism and disparaging words at him regarding his conduct in not cooperating with the plan he had drawn up, and threatened him that if he did not cooperate with him promptly and help him advance the plan, he would distribute the letter, thereby causing Feiglin, in his view, public damage ahead of the elections. About two days later, he arrived at Feiglin's home, gave a neighbor who was passing by the extortion letter and asked her to pass it to Feiglin, and she indeed delivered the letter to Feiglin.

He later arrived at a "Zehut" party event at Machane Yehuda market, and through another woman delivered to the party's director-general several copies of the extortion letter, along with another letter containing a similar threat to the threat against Feiglin.

The indictment further reveals that throughout all the actions he carried out, he took many active steps to avoid being caught, including writing all the documents and letters he prepared by hand and not by computer, writing instructions and guidance in various documents on what actions those involved in the plan should take so their identity would not be exposed, using various disguise methods during meetings he held with others he tried to recruit, wearing a protective mask on his face, a hat and sunglasses, and even identifying himself with a false name, and using phones of passersby to contact the various people involved.

In the request for detention until the end of proceedings, the Central District Prosecutor's Office noted that the defendant's actions, which spanned several years, rest on an extremist and murderous ideology that motivated him to formulate and plan in detail a multi-layered and multi-stage plan, whose purpose is ultimately to lead to the mass killing of Arab Israeli citizens as well as Palestinians living in eastern Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria.

The extremist ideology held by the defendant, which he tried to advance and execute as soon as possible, demonstrates his clear and immediate danger, both to individuals, to the public and to the state. Additionally, the nationalist and ideological motive that underlay his actions, and the fact that they were carried out during a period of special security tension, amplify his dangerousness.

Bar-Ilan University responded: "Bar-Ilan University condemns and is shocked by the actions attributed to the lecturer in the indictment. The university administration calls on the police and the prosecution to pursue the full severity of the law with him if the matters are proven true. The university shows and will show zero tolerance for such phenomena that are contrary to the values of all of us as Jews, as Israelis and as human beings, and certainly to the values of Bar-Ilan University. The lecturer has been suspended immediately until the end of proceedings."