Israeli security forces have thwarted a chilling terrorist plot orchestrated by a 17-year-old Arab citizen loyal to the Islamic State (ISIS), the Israel Police and Shin Bet announced in a joint statement on Sunday. The suspect, a resident of Jisr az-Zarqa—a coastal Arab town nestled between Kibbutz Ma’agan Michael and Caesarea—was apprehended on March 2 in a dramatic joint operation. The teenager, whose identity remains under wraps due to his age, had repeatedly sworn allegiance to ISIS and its shadowy “current caliph,” investigators revealed. His target was a deadly attack within the Menashe Division’s jurisdiction, a region under the eye of the Israel Police. A raid on his home uncovered a trove of documents detailing the creation of explosives, signaling his intent to unleash havoc. Prosecutors wasted no time, slapping the suspect with a “serious indictment” and requesting his detention be extended until the legal proceedings conclude. The arrest marks yet another alarming chapter in a wave of radicalization sweeping parts of Israel’s Arab population since the onset of the war on Oct. 7, 2023. According to Kan News, Israeli security officials have probed 80 cases involving Arab citizens since the war began, with 26 individuals pledging loyalty to ISIS and other “global jihad” groups. In 2024 alone, the Shin Bet detained 177 Israeli Arabs for questioning in national security cases. A 2023 poll by the Israel Democracy Institute found that one-third of Arab citizens rejected the notion that Hamas’s October 7 massacre reflected poorly on Arab society, the Palestinian people, or Islam. More recently, a June 2024 survey revealed that 14.7% of Arab Israelis—roughly 308,700 out of 2.1 million—believe Hamas should rule Gaza post-war, clashing head-on with Israel’s core objective to dismantle the group. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)