Hamza Magamsa, an Israeli Arab from the village of Yafi' in northern Israel, was arrested last month at Ben Gurion airport as he returned from a 10-day training stint with ISIS in Syria.
The story was under a gag order until now.
Magamsa, who is 22, admitted under ISA (Israel Security Agency, or Shin Bet) interrogation that he left Israel in October for Turkey, together with three of his friends, and that two of them decided to head on toward Syria and join ISIS, or Islamic State.
The three crossed the border from Turkey to Syria and showed up at the ISIS absorption base, where they joined the murderous group. They were transferred to a training camp and received lessons on weapons and other subjects, as well as physical training.
At the camp, Magamasa met Mahran Haldi of Nazareth, aged 19, who had also left Israel for Turkey to join ISIS in Syria.
After 10 days at the training camp, Magamsa decided to go back to his family in Israel. He returned to Turkey and from there to Israel, where he was arrested upon entry.
The ISA warned Sunday that the trend among Arabs that involves leaving Israel for Syria is exceedingly dangerous because these men could be “used by the terror elements in that country for military actions against Israel and for collecting information on targets in Israel.”
Magamsa has been charged with contact with foreign agents, membership in an illegal group, conspiracy to commit a crime and illegally exiting Israel.