​ (Communicated by the ISA)
 
The following has been cleared for publication:
 
The Israel Security Agency (ISA) has, in recent weeks, uncovered and thwarted the operations of a terrorist cell directed by a Syria-based terrorist that – inter alia – planned to attack VIPs.
 
To this end, Muhammad Jamal Rashdeh – born in 1988, a resident of the Shuafat refugee camp in eastern Jerusalem, who holds an Israeli ID card and who has previously been imprisoned for terrorist offenses – was arrested.
 
His investigation revealed that he was directed by foreign-based terrorists and that he had planned to commit significant attacks against a variety of targets including VIPs such as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat.
 
It was learned that Rashdeh had planned to attack buildings that belong to the US consulate and a senior Canadian delegation that was in Jerusalem in order to train Palestinian Authority forces in Judea and Samaria.
 
In order to advance several of the planned attacks, the cell intended to bring a terrorist into Israel from Jordan.
 
It was also learned that Rashdeh – on instruction from a terrorist in Syria – carried out advance operations to gather intelligence on possible targets.
 
Additional suspects have been arrested who, in their investigations, verified the suspicions against the cell; their detention thwarted the aforesaid planned terrorist attacks.
 
Indictments against those involved were filed on Sunday, 27 May 2018.