In a high-stakes counterterror operation, Israeli security forces thwarted a planned shooting attack in Jerusalem’s Old City during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The Shin Bet (Israel’s Security Agency) and Israel Police announced Sunday that they had arrested 24-year-old Uday Mobarsham, an Arab Israeli from the village of Makr, who had purchased a homemade rifle and begun training for an attack targeting Israeli police officers and Jewish civilians near the Damascus Gate. Mobarsham, who had been undergoing religious radicalization, was captured in February, just before planning to execute his deadly plan. According to an indictment filed by the Haifa District Attorney’s Office, Mobarsham had undergone a religious revival in 2022, immersing himself in Salafist extremism and consuming Hamas and ISIS propaganda. Following Hamas’s October 7 massacre in Israel, he became increasingly determined to carry out his own terror attack, prosecutors revealed. In February 2024, just weeks before his arrest, Mobarsham chillingly wrote to a friend: “Ramadan is coming, brother. The war is at the door.” Mobarsham’s plan was as straightforward as it was deadly: launch a shooting attack near Shaar Shechem, a hotspot for Palestinian terror activity, during the sensitive month of Ramadan—a time when tensions in Jerusalem historically reach their peak. To prepare, he acquired a homemade rifle and began training, all while attempting to recruit accomplices for his attack. In a desperate effort to hide evidence, Mobarsham passed his rifle to his brother, Adham, instructing him to conceal it far from their home. But Israeli security forces were one step ahead—tracking the handoff, locating the weapon, and arresting Adham as well. Prosecutors have since charged Adham with illegal weapons possession, while police are investigating other individuals Mobarsham attempted to recruit. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)