A mathematics lecturer at Bar-Ilan University has been indicted on charges that he spent more than three years developing an elaborate plan for 72 armed Jewish attackers to carry out simultaneous terror attacks against Arabs across Israel, with prosecutors alleging that his ultimate objective was to kill hundreds of people and trigger a mass exodus of Arabs and Palestinians from Israel, eastern Yerushalayim, and Yehuda and Shomron.

The State Prosecutor’s Office filed the indictment Monday in the Central District Court in Lod against the lecturer, a Petah Tikva resident in his 60s. A court-imposed gag order currently prohibits publication of his identity.

The defendant is charged with preparing to commit an act of terrorism under Israel’s Counter-Terrorism Law, extortion by threats and obstruction of justice. Prosecutors have also asked the court to order that he remain in custody throughout the proceedings against him.

According to the indictment, the defendant’s ideas developed against the backdrop of the violence during Operation Guardian of the Walls in 2021 and intensified following the outbreak of the Iron Swords War. Prosecutors say he devised an ideological-nationalist program that he called “Ayt,” a Hebrew acronym meaning “A Nation Will Carry Out Transfer.”

The prosecution alleges that his preparations began in February 2023 and continued until his arrest in September 2026. During that period, he allegedly transformed the idea into a detailed operational plan, prepared extensive written materials, conducted reconnaissance and spent approximately a year and a half trying unsuccessfully to recruit others to participate.

The scale of the alleged plan was extensive. Prosecutors say the lecturer envisioned assembling 72 Jewish attackers, at least half of whom would possess firearms licenses, and dividing them into 12 separate cells of six people each. The defendant himself intended to participate as one of the attackers.

The cells were allegedly supposed to launch attacks simultaneously in mixed Jewish-Arab cities and Arab communities around the country, using the element of surprise to overwhelm security forces and produce mass casualties. The proposed arsenal included handguns, rifles, axes and hammers.

According to additional details contained in the indictment, the defendant envisioned the attacks killing hundreds of people. Some reports citing the planning documents put the contemplated death toll at between 600 and 700.

The alleged scheme went considerably further. Prosecutors say the defendant hoped to recruit sympathetic individuals from within the IDF who could provide support to the attacking cells, including assistance involving the Air Force, artillery and armored forces against Arab population centers.

His stated objective, according to prosecutors, was to create such widespread bloodshed and fear that Arab Israelis, Bedouins, Arabs living in eastern Yerushalayim and Palestinians in Yehuda and Shomron would flee or be permanently driven to Jordan, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.

The documents allegedly contained operational instructions for what the defendant described as putting the plan into effect “here and now.” Those instructions called for quickly taking control of flashpoint areas, roads, entrances and exits to Arab communities, mixed cities and hospitals while carrying out mass killings.

One of the most disturbing passages cited from the defendant’s writings concerned the treatment of civilians. In one document, according to the indictment, he wrote: “Do not have mercy even on the women and children.”

Prosecutors maintain that the plan did not remain confined to writings and theoretical discussions. The defendant allegedly took concrete steps toward implementation, including conducting reconnaissance around the Arab town of Tuba-Zangariyye in northern Israel to study possible access routes and methods of attack. The community was reportedly intended to serve as one of the principal targets.

Investigators also say he spent approximately 18 months trying to locate people willing to participate in the operation. Those recruitment efforts were unsuccessful, and there is no allegation that the 72-person force he envisioned was ever actually assembled.

A significant portion of the indictment centers on the defendant’s repeated attempts to involve Moshe Feiglin, who is running in the upcoming election as part of the joint Zehut-Religious Zionism Party slate.

According to prosecutors, the lecturer believed Feiglin could help him recruit participants. His plan allegedly called for carefully selected activists to be invited to a Zehut campaign gathering, where they would suddenly be informed that they had been chosen to participate in an attack scheduled for the following day.

The defendant attended two public events at which Feiglin appeared and repeatedly attempted to arrange a personal meeting with him and deliver a summary of the plan. Prosecutors stressed that Feiglin did not respond to the approaches and had no involvement in the alleged scheme.

Feiglin said Monday that he had been receiving correspondence from the defendant for an extended period but had not taken it seriously.

“I have been receiving repeated letters for quite a long time that I did not take seriously,” Feiglin said.

After the attempts to secure Feiglin’s cooperation failed, prosecutors allege that the defendant escalated his efforts as the election approached. He allegedly sent Feiglin a letter threatening to make its contents public in a manner he believed would politically damage Feiglin unless he agreed to cooperate and help advance the plan.

The lecturer allegedly traveled to Feiglin’s home and left the letter with a neighbor to deliver to him. He subsequently attended a Zehut event at Yerushalayim’s Machane Yehuda market and passed additional copies to the party’s director-general through another woman.

Prosecutors say the defendant simultaneously went to considerable lengths to prevent investigators from tracing his activities. He allegedly avoided creating his planning documents on a computer and instead wrote them by hand, operated under a false name and appeared at meetings wearing a mask, hat and sunglasses.

He is also accused of borrowing the phones of unsuspecting passersby when contacting people he hoped to recruit, apparently in an effort to prevent the communications from being traced back to his own device.

The prosecution says the lengthy duration of the planning, the reconnaissance, the detailed operational documents, the recruitment attempts and the measures allegedly taken to conceal his identity demonstrate that the scheme had progressed beyond the expression of extremist ideas into concrete preparations for a terrorist attack.

In asking that the lecturer remain jailed until the conclusion of the case, prosecutors described the alleged plan as the product of an “extreme and murderous ideology” and argued that his repeated efforts to move it toward implementation demonstrate that he presents a serious and immediate danger.

The defendant has not been convicted of the charges, and the allegations contained in the indictment will now have to be proven in court. His name remains barred from publication under the existing gag order.

{Matzav.com}