Israeli security forces on Wednesday arrested Zakaria Zubeidi, a former Palestinian terrorist leader long sought by Israeli law enforcement, on suspicion that he was engaged in “serious and current terrorist activities,” the Shin Bet said.

In addition to Zubeidi, Israeli forces also arrested on similar charges the attorney Tarek Barghout, who often represents terror suspects.

“This morning, in a joint operation by the Shin Bet security service, Israel Defense Forces and Israel Police, Zakaria Zubeidi and Tarek Barghout were arrested in connection with their involvement in serious and current terrorist activities,” the Shin Bet said in a statement.

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The security service refused to elaborate on the nature of the suspicions against Zubeidi and Barghout.

The two men were arrested in the Ramallah area of the central West Bank, the Shin Bet said.

According to Palestinian media, Israeli forces also confiscated Barghout’s car in Ramallah.

מקורות פלסטיניים מדווחים כי כוחות צה"ל נכנסו לרמאללה תחתית. על פי הדיווחים, הכוחות ביצעו חיפוש במקום בו שהה טארק ברגות שנעצר והחרימו את מכוניתו @nurityohanan pic.twitter.com/AsEzEBdKoP — כאן חדשות (@kann_news) February 27, 2019

During the Second Intifada, Zubeidi served as the commander of the Jenin region of Fatah’s military wing, the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades. He was also suspected of being one of the chief architects of several terror attacks during the early 2000s.

Zubeidi, who also helped found Jenin’s Freedom Theatre in 2006, evaded capture by Israeli forces for years, before the Israeli government offered him and several other al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades members amnesty in 2007.

While he was wanted by Israel for his terrorist activities, Zubeidi began a relationship with an Israeli woman, Tali Fahima, in 2004. Fahima moved into Zubeidi’s Jenin home in order to act as a human shield and prevent Israel from conducting an airstrike to kill him. She was later arrested and convicted of assisting an enemy in wartime.

In December 2011, the Israeli government rescinded Zubeidi’s amnesty without public explanation. Zubeidi has been on Jerusalem’s wanted list ever since.

Initially, Zubeidi evaded capture by Israeli forces by remaining in Palestinian Authority custody in Ramallah. He was released by the PA and permitted to return to Jenin in 2017. </s> Israeli security forces arrested a prominent former Palestinian militant and a lawyer on Wednesday in a West Bank raid over "terror" allegations, officials said.

"Zakaria Zubeidi and Tareq Barghout were arrested over their involvement in current severe terror activity," the Shin Bet domestic security service said in a statement, refusing to provide further details.

The Palestinian Prisoners Club said Zubeidi, the former head of the Al-Aqsa Martyr Brigades militant group, was arrested in a village near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

The arrests come with Israeli security forces concerned over increased tensions in the West Bank after recent scuffles at a Jerusalem holy site and Israel's decision to withhold tens of millions of dollars in tax transfers to the Palestinian Authority.

Israel is withholding $138 million in tax transfers to the Palestinian Authority over its payments to the families of prisoners, or prisoners themselves, jailed for attacks on Israelis.

Israel is also gearing up to hold elections on April 9.

Zubeidi had faced charges in the past from the Palestinian Authority for taking part in a shooting attack on the residence of Jenin governor Qaddura Musa in 2002.

Musa died after suffering a heart attack during the incident, and Palestinian security forces arrested dozens of people, including Zubeidi, shortly afterwards.

In 2011, the Freedom Theatre's well-known Israeli-Palestinian director Juliano Mer-Khamis was gunned down in Jenin's refugee camp, in an attack that remains unsolved. </s> The Shin Bet internal security service said Khalida Jarrar was arrested along with a Palestinian activist near the West Bank city of Ramallah for "promoting terror activities," without elaborating.

Jarrar, 55, is a popular figure among Palestinians and is known for fiery speeches against Israel. In 2015, Israel sentenced her to 15 months for incitement to violence.

FILE - In this June 3, 2016 file photo, Palestinian lawmaker Khalida Jarrar is greeted by supporters after her release from an Israeli prison at the Jabara checkpoint near the West Bank town of Tulkarem. On Sunday, July 2, 2017, Israeli security forces detained Jarrar for alleged security offenses. The Shin Bet internal security service said Jarrar was arrested Sunday along with a Palestinian activist near the West Bank city of Ramallah for "promoting terror activities," without elaborating. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed, File)

Her husband, Ghassan said forces seized computers in Sunday's raid.

Jarrar is a senior member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a left-leaning faction opposed to peace with Israel. The group was involved in hijackings and other major attacks in the 1970s but has largely scaled back its militant activities in recent years. </s> Image copyright Julia Quenzler Image caption Naa'imur Zakariyah Rahman (left) and Mohammad Aqib Imran in court last December

A London man has denied plotting to kill Theresa May in a bomb attack.

Naa'imur Zakariyah Rahman, 20, from Finchley is accused of preparing a terror attack targeting Downing Street.

He is also charged with assisting Mohammad Aqib Imran, 22, from Birmingham, who allegedly tried to join the Islamic State group and is charged with preparing acts of terror.

Both men appeared at the Old Bailey via video-link from Belmarsh Prison on Friday. They deny the allegations.

The two men were arrested in counter-terrorism police raids in London and Birmingham in November last year.

'Rucksack explosive'

Mr Rahman, who faces a charge of preparing acts of terrorism in relation to the alleged Downing Street plot, is accused of carrying out reconnaissance of the target location, recording a pledge of allegiance and buying a rucksack.

It is alleged he dropped off the rucksack and a jacket to be fitted with improvised explosive devices and collected them "with a view to committing attacks against persons in the UK".

Mr Rahman also faces a separate charge of assisting Mr Imran in allegedly preparing acts of terror.

The charge says Mr Rahman recorded a sponsorship video which would have allegedly helped Mr Imran to be accepted into IS.

Meanwhile, Mr Imran, of Sparkbrook, is accused of possession of the sponsorship video and trying to get hold of a fake passport.

He also researched terror publications and downloaded a copy of How To Survive In The West - A Mujahid's Guide 2015, it is alleged.

The judge, Mr Justice Haddon-Cave, remanded the defendants in custody.

The pair will stand trial on 18 June. </s> Michael Kadar, an American-Israeli man convicted of terrorizing Jewish community centers across the U.S. with a wave of bogus bomb threats, was sentenced by a court in Tel Aviv to 10 years in prison Thursday.

Unidentified by Israeli media outlets on account of starting his crime spree while still a minor, the dual citizen was found guilty in June in connection with placing thousands of threatening phone calls against various victims in the U.S. and abroad between 2015 and 2017, including airports, airlines, schools and Jewish community centers.

Israeli outlets described the so-called “JCC hoax bomber” as the same person previously charged with related crimes by the U.S. Department of Justice, consequently revealing his identity as Kadar.

The Justice Department charged Kadar, 20, last year with dozens of counts connected to a wave of threatening calls placed against U.S. victims prior to his March 2017 arrest, and prosecutors subsequently filed federal hate crimes charges against him in Feb. 2018.

The dual citizen issued more than 2,000 threats prior to his arrest, according to the Israeli State Prosecutor’s office, and the U.S. Justice Department has previously identified his targets as Jewish centers in at least three states, as well as the Orlando International Airport, the Anti-Defamation League’s headquarters and the Israeli Embassy in D.C., among other targets.

“When individuals target victims of their crimes based on who they are, what they believe, or how they worship, they target the bedrock principles on which our nation was founded,” former Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement issued when the Justice Department announced the hate crime charges against Kadar.

Discussing the crimes during Thursday’s sentencing hearing, Tel Aviv District Court Judge Zvi Gurfinkel described the impact the bogus bomb threats had on victims flying aboard airlines targeted by his threats.

“One can easily imagine the terror, the fear and the horror that gripped the airplane passengers who were forced to make an emergency landing, some of whom were injured while evacuating the plane and the terrified panic caused when there was a need to evacuate pupils from schools because of fake bomb threats,” he wrote in his verdict, The New York Times reported.

Kadar did not deny responsibility during trial, instead blaming his actions on his autism, Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported.

“Were it not for his condition, I would have sentenced him to 17 years in prison,” Judge Gurfinkel ruled Thursday, according to JWire, a Jewish news service that covered the case.

“This is the most cruel, cruel thing in the world,” Kadar’s mother said of the sentencing, The New York Times reported. “I’m very sorry, but I am ashamed that the country acts this way.”

Representatives for the Justice Department did not immediately comment on the sentence. </s> Prosecutors filed an indictment Wednesday against Security forces arrested 10 Gazans last month on suspicion that they were planning to attack an Israel Navy vessel.

In a joint statement announcing the arrests, the General Security Service (Shin Bet) and IDF Spokesman’s Unit said the men, residents of the city of Rafah, on the Gaza-Egypt border, were arrested on March 12 after a coast guard patrol stopped a Gaza boat that had violated the naval blockade on the Strip by leaving the Gaza fishing zone. The navy said the fishing boat was gathering information about Israel’s marine movements.

The statement said that Shin Bet and Israel Police interrogators believe that 24-year-old Amin Sa’adi Mohammed Jama’a, a fisherman from Rafah, is a terrorist affiliated with the Islamic Jihad group and was acting on orders from the group’s leadership as part of an operation to use several boats in order to plan the attack.

Jama’a told Shin Bet interrogators that one boat was to serve as a decoy to attract the navy’s attention, while a second boat would fire a Cornet missile at the navy vessel. A third boat would then approach the damaged ship in an attempt to kidnap Israeli sailors. He is also believed to have gathered intelligence about naval movements, including troop numbers and weapons on board navy vessels.

The arrest is the latest in a string of operations by intelligence and operational security forces to thwart potential attacks, including the demolition of several tunnels under the Gaza-Israel border fence and several more land infiltrations.

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman praised the intelligence service, writing on Twitter that “once against the IDF and Shin Bet have prevented a terror attack against our forces. The challenges on the Gaza border are wide-ranging and complicated. Israel has (a powerful army upon which) to rely.

“I hope that this time our friends on the left won’t demand a commission of inquiry,” Liberman said. </s> TORONTO — Ontario’s highest court has ordered a new trial for two men found guilty of terrorism charges in connection with a plot to derail a passenger train.

The Court of Appeal for Ontario says the jury that convicted Raed Jaser and Chiheb Esseghaier was improperly selected, which means its verdict cannot stand.

Jaser and Esseghaier were found guilty in 2015 on a total of eight terror-related charges between them. They were sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole until 2023.

Lawyers for Jaser argued the trial judge mistakenly rejected their client’s request regarding the method of jury selection.

The lawyer appointed to assist Esseghaier — who continues to be self-represented — agreed in written arguments that a new trial must be ordered on that ground.

The law regarding jury selection was in flux during the trial but the appeal court says the approach used by the judge has since been deemed wrong.

Several other cases have been overturned due to similar errors in recent years.

Jaser had also raised other grounds for appeal but the jury issue was heard first.

Both men also previously indicated they wished to challenge their sentences, but the call for a new trial makes that unnecessary.
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• ‘Delusional’ Via Rail plotter now on anti-psychotics, plans appeal </s> An Israeli court has released four of the seven suspects held in a high-profile corruption case involving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's confidants after a judge apparently discussed their detention with an investigator.

The development leaves two Netanyahu aides — Nir Hefetz, the premier's former media adviser, and Communications Ministry Director Shlomo Filber — and media tycoon Shaul Elovitch in jail.

Israeli media reported late on Sunday that Tel Aviv District Court Judge Ronit Poznanski-Katz and an investigator from the security agencies exchanged messages about the suspects held in a case involving Netanyahu's aides and telecom giant Bezeq.

Last week police arrested Elovitch and the others over involvement in promoting regulations worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Israel's Bezeq telecom company, of which Elovitch is a major shareholder. </s> Israel’s Shin Bet security service says it has arrested 10 Palestinians suspected of planning an attack against a navy ship off the Gaza coast.

The cell’s alleged leader was being indicted Wednesday. The Shin Bet says Amin Jamaa’s interrogation revealed a plan to send a decoy boat that would distract the navy ship, after which a rocket would be fired at it and militants would then try to abduct wounded soldiers on board as bargaining chips for future prisoner swaps.

The Shin Bet identified the men as members of the Islamic Jihad militant group.

The disclosure follows mass protests along the Israel-Gaza border last Friday in which 18 Palestinians were killed.
Shin Bet arrest lawyer Tarek Barghout, an attorney who has represented "terror" suspects, and a Palestinian man named Zakaria Zubeidi for what it calls "their involvement in serious and current terrorist activities."