Two Arab residents of eastern Jerusalem have been indicted on charges of plotting to kidnap IDF soldiers in hopes of forcing Israel to release more terrorists – specifically, their own family members.
The two men, 20-year-old Ayad Aabid and 21-year-old Abdullah Aabid, are both residents of Issawiya. The terrorists they hoped to free have been sentenced to life terms in Israel.
On Monday at 9:30 a.m., meanwhile, 227 Fatah terrorists will be freed from the Ofer detention center in another "goodwill gesture" to the Palestinian Authority by Israel. Among them are many terrorists who have served less than three years of their sentences for attempted murder.
According to the indictment filed by Attorney Jenny Ginsberg in Jerusalem District Court, the Aabids planned to plow a tractor into an IDF jeep parked near their neighborhood and then kidnap the soldiers from the vehicle. A similar strategy was recently demonstrated on a program that taught the technique on Hamas TV's Al Aqsa television, according to the Palestinian MediaWatch (PMW).
The two would-be kidnappers allegedly asked a relative living in the Palestinian Authority-controlled city of Bethlehem to purchase an M-16 rifle for them. The relative works for a PA security organization.
In addition, the indictment listed other equipment purchased by the pair for use during the planned operation, including an electric shock instrument, two clubs, two knives, two pairs of gloves and two masks.
The pair are also suspected of trying to sabotage municipal voting in at least one location by threatening local elections committee members and setting afire a school that was being used as a polling station.
They also tried to fly a homemade unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) over an IDF military base located near their neighborhood, but the drone plummeted to earth and was destroyed. Nevertheless, in the indictment they were charged with being suspected of planning to eventually fly the UAV loaded with explosives over the IDF base in a separate terror attack.