Israeli newspapers are reporting on the just disclosed coup attempt by Hamas to dislodge Fatah in the West Bank.
The Shin Bet said it arrested more than 90 Hamas operatives in May and June, confiscated dozens of weapons that had been smuggled into the West Bank, and seized more than $170,000 aimed at funding attacks. It produced photos of the confiscated weapons and cash and a flowchart of the Hamas operatives who had been questioned, and said they planned a series of massive attacks on Israeli targets, including the Temple Mount, in order to start a widespread conflagration. Indictments are expected to be filed against at least 70 of the suspects.Terror cells were set up in dozens of Palestinian West Bank towns and villages — including in and around Jenin, Nablus, eastern Jerusalem, Ramallah, and Hebron — the Shin Bet said.
There were other details at Ynet:
The plan called for using the intifada as cover to seize rule in Ramallah, which would have been led by the “Mohammed Deif of the West Bank” who currently operates out of Turkey.More than 70 indictments were served in recent days at military tribunals in the West Bank, and they expose the largest coordination effort Hamas has attempted in the area since Operation Defensive Shield more than a decade ago.
The “Mohammed Deif of the West Bank” is Saleh al-Arouri who was also implicated in the planning of the kidnappings and killings of Eyal Yifrach, Gil-ad Shaar and Naftali Fraenkel.
The head of the coup attempt was Riad Nasser. The Jerusalem Post describes him:
In the car, Al-Aruri recruited his driver, Riad Nasser, another senior Hamas West Bank figure, the Shin Bet added.Nasser, a resident of the Palestinian village of Dir Kadis, near Ramallah, was allegedly appointed by Al-Aruri as the local commander of the entire West Bank Hamas infrastructure.Nasser served multiple prison sentences for terrorist offenses in previous years, and was taken into administrative detention in December 2013. The Shin Bet began questioning him on May 27 over his alleged involvement in the setting up of large numbers of terrorist cells.
The end of May is the same time Israel announced that it had arrested Mahmoud Toameh a financier of Hamas, who explained how he funded Hamas’ activities in the West Bank.
The revelation of the extent of Hamas’ operations in the West Bank conclusively disproves the inaccurate, irresponsible reporting that charged Israel with falsely accusing Hamas of the kidnappings of the three Israeli teens. The story was already collapsing two weeks ago when a senior Hamas official admitted to Israeli authorities that Hamas ordered the kidnapping.
One thing I hadn’t realized is that Katie Zavadski, who wrote the New York Magazine article making the charge against Israel, interned for Andrew Sullivan. Will recent revelations that have so contradicted the popular media narrative about Israel and the Palestinians shock the MSM into some long overdue soul searching? Or will they continue to look for the flimsiest excuse to flog Israel from whatever dubious sources they can find?
[Photo: CNN / YouTube ]
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