Indictment filed against suspects who planned to bomb Azrieli Towers

An indictment was filed on Friday in the Lod District Court against five residents of Taybeh, who were suspected of planning to carry out a bombing at the Azrieli Towers in Tel Aviv. 

The case was cleared for publication on Thursday following a covert investigation that lasted several weeks.

The defendants are Sajed Masarwa (27), Mahmoud Azzam (24), Ibrahim Sheikh Youssef (34), Abdullah Baransi (26), and Abd al-Karim Baransi (27). According to the suspicion, the leaders of the group, Azzam and Sheikh Youssef, adhere to ISIS ideology and recruited three other residents of Tayibe into the network: Sajed Masarwa, Abdullah Baransi, and Abd al-Karim Baransi.

Various weapons were found in their possession at the time of their arrest. During their interrogation, it emerged that the suspects had watched videos online of bombing attacks in Syria and discussed the amount of explosives required to bring down the Azrieli Towers.

The suspects' attorneys and the prosecution discussed some of the charges in the indictment, specifically those addressing the suspects' identification with the organization. 

The suspects met at the mosque, and some discussed joining ISIS. Attorney Shua'a Mansour, who represents two of the suspects, stated, "The suspect only thought about joining."

The prosecution's statement read: "As part of the defendants' activities in the organization, they watched ISIS publications on social media, consumed the organization's news, shared content, expressed support for the organization and its ideology, and some of them pledged allegiance to ISIS."

"The defendants watched videos that included, among other things, the production of explosive devices and the preparation of explosives, and one of them stated that he would 'blow up the Azrieli Towers' using a car bomb out of anger over a statement made by [National Security] Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir about building the Third Temple at Al-Aqsa," the prosecution noted.

In June 2024, one of the defendants decided to form a military cell with the purpose of carrying out attacks in Israel, disguising the cell under the guise of a group for studying Islam. Within this framework, two defendants conspired to carry out an attack in Israel in the name of ISIS, with the goal of causing as many civilian deaths as possible.

"They discussed the amount of explosives needed to bring down the towers and how the truck bomb would be positioned next to the support pillars of the towers in the parking lot, so that the explosion and the high temperature it would generate would melt the pillars, leading to the collapse of the towers, thereby maximizing the damage caused by the attack," the statement said.

'Suspects surprised by allegations'

Mansour noted to Walla, "These are allegations that surprise the suspects, as they are normal individuals with no criminal record, working to support themselves at construction sites. The main suspect I represent regretted the idea half an hour after it was presented to him and said, 'I'm not involved.'"

"After the arrest, I met with Baransi. He was in shock, in total disbelief, especially after being interrogated by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency)at their facilities," he further claimed, adding, "The two I represent had no contact with anyone outside the country from ISIS. In the arrest requests, there was no mention of contact with a foreign or hostile entity, meaning there was no contact with ISIS members outside the country," he said.

Regarding the weapons reported to have been found in the suspects' possession, he said, "If weapons were found, it might be a case of possession, but not as reported. There was a discussion of the idea and regret about carrying it out."