21-Jan-13: Homegrown terrorists thwarted before launching their intended attacks

Beer Sheba [Image Source]

Parts of the Israeli media are reporting tonight on a plot uncovered by the Shin Bet that had, among its goals, the bombing of Beer Sheba's central bus station, an armed attack on the city’s train station, rocket attacks on other Israeli cities, and the deliberate running down of pedestrians. Beer Sheba is a southern city of Israel with a population of about 200,000.

Ynet and Times of Israel describe how a pair of Bedouin brothers from the Negev - Mahmoud Abu Quider, 24, and Samah Abu Quider, 21, were indicted for plotting to carry out terror attacks in Israel, according to records unsealed on Sunday. Their co-conspirators, an IDF soldier and a fourth person, are said to be Jewish Israelis charged with supplying stolen army equipment, including weapons, in exchange for drugs. The Abu Quider brothers are said to have confessed under interrogation and to have provided the authorities with a detailed description of their terror plans. Jihadist online websites are reported to have been at the heart of the brothers' recruitment into the ranks of active terrorists.

Members of the Abu Quider clan have been reported in recent months to be involved in disputes over their rights to land in the Negev. Regavim, an organization engaged in promoting "responsible, legal and accountable use of Israel’s national lands and the return of the rule of law to all areas and aspects of the land and its preservation" mentions their claims in a report datelined September 29, 2012 [online here]. We don't know whether the accused in tonight's reports are members of that clan or involved in that dispute.