Arab Israeli to Be Charged With Attempt to Join Hamas, Assassinate Ben-Gvir

Israeli authorities said the 29-year-old Mohammed Awad contacted Hamas to join the group's ranks and receive resources for the attack • Ben-Gvir said it is the 'ninth time' he has been targeted, adding that it does not deter him from his political objectives

July 21st, 19PM July 21st, 19PM

A man from the northern Arab Israeli city of Nazareth is set to be charged with attempting to join Hamas and harm a government minister, Israel Police and Shin Bet security service said in a joint statement on Tuesday.

After the joint announcement, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir announced that he was the intended target.

The police and Shin Bet said that 29-year-old Mohammed Awad contacted Hamas to join the group's ranks and receive resources for the attack. The prosecutor's office filed a draft indictment in advance of an indictment of Awad.

Ben-Gvir wrote on X, "This is the ninth time that terrorist organizations have targeted me and tried to harm me," adding that the assassination attempt does not deter him from continuing with "prison reform, demolishing illegal homes, implementing the death penalty law for terrorists, ensuring that we are the landlords on the Temple Mount, opening self-defense classes, and arming all Israeli citizens. You will not scare me."

The Shin Bet announced in September that it thwarted a Hamas plan to assassinate the national security minister using explosive drones; the security agency detained a cell from the Hebron area in the southern West Bank, members of which had purchased several drones, operating at the direction of Hamas' Turkish bureau. Ben-Gvir lives in the vicinity of Hebron, in the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba.

Three residents of East Jerusalem were also arrested in April 2022 after being suspected of a plot to assassinate Ben-Gvir and carry out attacks against Israelis.