Bar-Ilan lecturer indicted over alleged mass-attack plan

Israeli prosecutors have indicted a Bar-Ilan University mathematics lecturer over an alleged plan for coordinated attacks on Palestinian and Arab communities, and asked a court to keep him in custody through the criminal proceedings. The indictment charges the man, whose identity is under a court-imposed gag order, with preparing a terrorist act, extortion by threats and obstruction of justice. The allegations have not been tested in court. According to the indictment, the proposed operation involved 72 attackers divided into 12 cells, which would carry out simultaneous attacks on Palestinian towns and mixed cities. Prosecutors allege that the intended targets included Palestinian citizens of Israel, Bedouin communities, and Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. The plan, they say, sought to cause mass casualties and drive residents to flee or be forcibly displaced toward Jordan, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. Prosecutors allege that the lecturer conducted reconnaissance, prepared written operational materials and spent about a year and a half trying to recruit participants. Those recruitment efforts failed, according to the reports.