Two Israeli teens indicted for firebombing mosque in Herzliya

Two teenagers from Tel Aviv were indicted on Friday for firebombing the Sidna Ali Mosque in Herzliya in January.

The two, ages 16 and 19, were arrested after an investigation found that they were nationalistically motivated to try to torch the mosque.

A Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) investigation found that the two were originally planning to jump an Arab citizen but abandoned that idea and decided to attack a mosque instead. After examining mosques in the Tel Aviv area, they decided to attack the Sidna Ali Mosque in Herzliya.

On Friday, the Tel Aviv District Attorney's Office filed an indictment against the two charging them with crimes of conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism, a terrorist act of arson in a team and acting with weapons for the purpose of terrorism in a team.

"Beyond the production of Molotov cocktails that were prepared in order to carry out the arson plan, and beyond the fact that the crime of arson is a crime that entails a real risk not only to the thing that is sought to be set on fire but to the surroundings as a whole, if the respondents' plan had been fully realized and the mosque had caught fire, it could have brought about an escalation of severe acts of violence in Israeli society, on a religious-nationalist background," noted attorney Tal Eliyahu in the request for arrest.

The Shin Bet noted that it "considers these acts, which are carried out based on nationalist motives, a danger to the security of the state, and in cooperation with Israel Police, will continue to act to end them as well as to bring the full severity of the law against the perpetrators of these acts."

The Shin Bet added that, since the settler riot in Huwara, it has noticed an increase in intentions to attack Arabs, including in mixed cities. Amid the increased threat, the Shin Bet is working to thwart the intended attacks before they happen.

Other nationalistic attacks against Israeli Arabs at the Sidna Ali Mosque

The Sidna Ali Mosque has been the scene of a number of nationalistic attacks against Israeli Arabs in recent years.

In June 2021, the Shin Bet announced that seven Jewish Israelis were arrested for suspected involvement in a nationalistic attack against a 61-year-old Arab-Israeli next to a mosque in Herzliya the month before during a wave of riots that swept across Israel during Operation Guardian of the Walls.

In total, over 15 individuals took part in the assault, according to court documents from the case of Shaked Sivoni, one of the assailants.

The victim, Ghassan Haj Yahya, a resident of Taiba, was moderately injured after a group of masked suspects attacked him near the Sidna Ali Mosque, pepper-spraying him and stabbing him with a sharp object and throwing stones at his car.

“I was dead,” Yahya told KAN news at the time. “I am still afraid to go to Netanya and Kfar Saba. I was attacked by 30 insane people, with hatred in their eyes, with stones, batons and pepper spray. How would you feel when you are alone? How do I feel? I am in shock.”