Assaf Ben-David, born Hussam Hafez Mahmoud Suafta, converted to Judaism and left the PA-controlled village of Tubas, near Shechem once he received Israeli citizenship.
He recently returned to Islam after living for years as a Hareidi-religious Jew and is accused of trying to pass materials for manufacturing explosives to his brother Salah, a member of the Islamic Jihad terrorist group.
Salah was killed on December 20th during an IDF arrest operation in Tubas before he could receive the nitric acid from his brother, according to the indictment.
Hussam, 39, was arrested a number of times for taking part in riots and anti-Israel attacks during the Intifada of the late 80s. He worked in Israel illegally and in 1993 began the conversion process, even enrolling in a Jerusalem yeshiva. Three years later he received Israeli citizenship and changed his name to Assaf Ben-David. He later married a Jewish woman, adopted her children from a previous marriage, had two more children with her and enjoyed the status of an oleh chadash, a new immigrant to Israel.
Hussam was in touch with Salah by telephone in recent months and met with him in Jenin in October, when he agreed to procure a large amount of nitric acid. The two developed codes in order to evade detection and Salah gave Hussam several SIM cards to be used to evade Israeli surveillance.
Salah was killed resisting arrest on December 20th and Hussam converted to Islam anew just before he was apprehended on December 26. His lawyer told Radio Kol Chai that Hussam's contact with his brother was an attempt to steer him away from terrorism, due to his concern that the IDF was going to arrest Salah.
Two of Suafta’s brothers are also in Israeli prisons after taking part in plans to carry out a suicide bombing in Israel recently.