The Haifa District Court Wednesday convicted two Arabs from Shefar’am, in the Galilee, of conspiring to aid the enemy in wartime and other terror-related offenses.
Judges Yosef Elron, Moshe Gilad and Riki Lemshreich–Leter found the main defendant, Anis Safouri, 21, guilty of conspiring to aid the enemy during wartime, membership in an illegal association and conspiring to commit murder.
The judges found a second defendant, Husam Halil, 20, guilty of conspiring to provide services for an illegal association..
Safouri, a communications major at Bir Zeit University, was a member of the Islamic Jihad terror gang and operated in its ranks, “with the aim of destroying the State of Israel, wounding and murdering Israeli citizens,” the judges determined.
The Haifa Prosecution asked the court to sentence him to 15 years in jail.
Halil was found guilty of lesser charges and is expected to receive a lighter jail sentence.
Safouri was arrested in August 2008 following a secret investigation by the Shin Bet, IDF and Galilee District Police. Besides him and Halil, three other Arabs were arrested on suspicion of membership in the terror cell.
According to the charges, Safouri and Halil agreed that Safouri would use the Internet to compile a list of scientists who would be chosen for assassination. The two also planned to buy drugs and sell them to soldiers in exchange for information on pilots and others, and to hurt collaborators with Israel.