Terrorist Plot to Assassinate Bibi, Jerusalem Mayor

The Fellowship  |  January 10, 2019

A terrorist has been sentenced to jail for an elaborate set of assassination plans in Israel. The Times of Israel’s Michael Bachner reports that the would-be assassin planned to attack the American embassy in Jerusalem and visiting Canadians, as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jerusalem’s Mayor Nir Barkat:

An East Jerusalem man suspected of planning to assassinate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat last year on orders from a Syria-based terrorist group was sentenced Thursday to 11 years in prison.

Muhammad Jamal Rashdeh, a 31-year-old Arab Israeli, was arrested on April 24 and charged on May 27 with terror offenses. In a plea deal, he was convicted of conspiracy to aid the enemy in wartime, preparing to carry out deadly terror attacks, spying, and conspiracy to commit murder…

“Working on orders from terrorist operatives abroad, Muhammad planned to carry out a number of significant terror attacks against a variety of targets,” the security service said.

The targets included Netanyahu and Barkat, as well as buildings belonging to the US consulate in Jerusalem (which has since been converted into an embassy) and a delegation of Canadian security officials who were in Jerusalem to train Palestinian Authority security forces in the West Bank, the Shin Bet said…