A trial in Haifa in northern Israel is highlighting the country’s concern over Israeli Arabs joining the Islamic State.
Ahmed Shourbaji, arrested at Ben Gurion Airport upon his return from three months in Syria, is being tried in the Haifa District Court. According to prosecutors and investigators from the Shin Bet security service, he received military training from Islamic State commanders and participated in at least two battles against Syrian forces.
Shourbaji’s lawyer claims that Shin Bet had interrogated Shourbaji before he left the country, knowing full well that the Israeli Arab was going to join the jihadists.
Several dozen Arab citizens of Israel are believed to have left the country in the past year. Some have crossed into Jordan and from there into Syria, while others have taken the route through southern Turkey into the Syrian conflict. The hometowns of the young man span the Arab Triangle towns of Qalansawe, Tira, and Tayibe to Nazareth, Umm al-Fahm and into the Galilee.
The recent death of Ahmed Habashi in Iraq with the Islamic State, coupled by the disappearance of three other Israeli Arabs from Yafia, had sparked new concerns. Analysts in Israel have debated the catalysts for the men: from opposition to Syria’s Assad regime to the mobilization of local Islamic movements to disenfranchisement to the Islamic State’s social media campaigns.
In Haifa, Israeli prosecutors are only seeking a sentence of 2 to 4 years for Ahmed Shourbaji’s temporary membership in the Islamic State. However, because of the jihadists’ increasing popularity amongst Israeli Arabs, it is likely that the District Court could impose a longer term as a deterrent to others.
