The Southern District Attorney's Office filed an indictment Friday morning with the Be'er Sheva District Court against four Bedouin residents of Segev Shalom and nearby Bedouin communities, charging them with a list of terror offenses.
The indictment charges the four with conspiring to commit an act of terrorism, as well as training and instruction for terror purposes. The principal defendant is also charged with incitement to terrorism and identifying with a terrorist organization.
The indictment notes that the suspects' plots were thwarted before they could be carried out.
According to the indictment, the main defendant operated a public Instagram account over an extended period in which he published and shared dozens of posts praising, supporting, and expressing sympathy for terrorist organizations and terrorists, alongside explicit calls to carry out attacks and wage armed struggle.
Among the content he shared were posts associated with Hamas, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the Lions' Den terrorist group, and other jihadist organizations. Prosecutors said the posts included videos and images of terrorists, footage from the October 7 massacre, praise for senior Hamas figures and terrorists, and calls for jihad, armed struggle, and martyrdom.
The indictment further alleges that, in response to Israeli security operations in the Gaza Strip and Judea and Samaria, the main defendant and another suspect conspired to carry out a series of terrorist attacks. They initially planned a mass stabbing attack at the Be'er Sheva Central Bus Station but later abandoned the plan after concluding that knives would not achieve their objective. They then began planning a shooting attack using firearms. The pair also allegedly planned to open fire on the police station in Segev Shalom and carry out attacks against Israeli security forces operating in the town.
Prosecutors further allege that following the Operation Guardian of the Walls riots in 2021, the main defendant decided to establish a terrorist organization motivated by nationalist ideology to attack Israeli police and security forces. As part of that effort, he created social media groups in which he distributed jihadist content, terrorist incitement videos, and instructional material on assembling explosive devices.
According to the indictment, the main defendant recruited the three other suspects into groups, offered them to join the organization, and received their consent. He then assigned them roles and code names while appointing himself the group's "commander" and giving the members of his organization different tasks. One of the defendants, designated as the group's "engineer," allegedly downloaded a video containing practical instructions for constructing an explosive device.
The investigation was conducted jointly by the Southern District Police's central unit counterterrorism squad and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet). The suspects were arrested during May and June 2026 in undercover operations carried out by Border Police's Southern District undercover unit.