The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) announced on Wednesday that it arrested three Palestinians from east Jerusalem recruited online by an al-Qaida operative in Gaza, who were in the midst of preparations to carry out a string of large-scale bombing and shooting attacks on multiple targets in Israel. The intended targets included the Jerusalem Convention Center, a bus traveling between the capital and Ma'aleh Adumim, the US embassy in Tel Aviv, and emergency responders who would have arrived at the scene of attacksThe Shin Bet said an al-Qaida operative in Gaza, named as Ariv Al-Sham, recruited the men separately from one another, and had planned to activate three independent terrorist cells via his recruits.
– Israel says it has foiled a major plot by al-Qaeda that included a planned attack on the US embassy in Tel Aviv, reports the AP. The Shin Bet security agency arrested three Palestinians it says were recruited indirectly by al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. The alleged plot called for suicide bombers to hit the embassy and the Jerusalem Convention Center simultaneously, and then for subsequent bombs to go off when first responders arrived, reports the Jerusalem Post. Another attack was planned on a passenger bus near Jerusalem. Authorities say an operative in Gaza who worked for Zawahiri recruited the three men separately via Facebook and Skype. One was supposed to go to Syria first to learn how to make bombs, and then help other foreign terrorists enter the country with fake Russian passports, says Shin Bet.