It seems like almost every week that we hear of Israeli Arabs being arrested on charges of planning terrorist attacks against Israelis.
This week is no exception.
Galilee region police have recently arrested two Israeli Arabs they believe belonged to a cell of Islamic Jihad operatives that planned to kill Israeli pilots, scientists and university lecturers.
News of the arrests, which took place during August, emerged after a gag order was lifted Thursday. Police claim that the network also planned shooting attacks on checkpoints in the West Bank, and that it attempted to make contact with Islamic Jihad’s leadership in Syria.
The Shin Bet security service was also involved in uncovering the cell, in which three Palestinians from the West Bank town of Ramallah are also suspected of being members. According to the police, the cell possessed weapons, held training exercises and was in the advanced stages of preparation for a shooting attack on an Israel Defense Forces checkpoint near Ramallah.
The two Israeli Arabs are Shfaram residents Anis Safori, 20, and Hussam Khalil, 19. Safori is a communications student at Ramallah’s Bir Zeit University; Khalil studies electronic engineering in Jordan.
Ok, so there’s nothing weird about some Israeli Arabs biting the hand that feeds them. But what piqued my curiosity were their targets – Israeli pilots, scientists and university lecturers. At first I thought that pilots were targeted because of their operational importance, but when considering the inclusion of scientists and university lecturers, I discounted this as the reason.
Then it hit me.
Only the best of the best are able to become IAF pilots. As for scientists and university lecturers, you have to be rather intelligent (although in some cases, one could wonder).
So here’s my theory: the terrorist cell were specifically targeting highly intelligent Israelis, in an effort to deal a blow to Israeli scientific achievment and accomplishments, since the palestinians are seemingly unable to accomplish or achieve anything themselves. Beyond sinking to new depths of depravity, of course.
In other words, since we can’t achieve, we’ll stop you from doing so.
Update: I just noticed..one of the arrested Arabs is named Anis.
That’s the second Anis we’ve seen this week.
