Arab Israeli serving as a firefighter arrested over terror plots, including plan to attack tech infrastructure site he visited while working.By World Israel News StaffIsraeli security forces arrested a 19-year-old firefighter from Kafr Qasim who researched bomb-making, attempted to manufacture explosives and was planning a terrorist attack, the Shin Bet and Israel Police announced.The suspect, identified as Mustafa Issa, is an Israeli citizen who was serving as a firefighter through Israel’s National Service program at a station in central Israel.He was arrested several weeks ago in a joint operation by the Shin Bet and the Israel Police Central District’s Sharon investigative unit.According to the joint police and Shin Bet statement, investigators found that Issa had been “greatly influenced” by the May 2021 violence during Operation Guardian of the Walls and by the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel.Authorities said that by the time of his arrest, Issa had advanced beyond merely consuming extremist material and was in the planning stages of carrying out an attack.Investigators found that Issa had used his cellphone to search for combat manuals and had downloaded and stored instructions explaining how to manufacture explosive devices.Authorities said he also experimented with making explosives from different materials and shared some of those efforts with other people.A large quantity of training equipment and airsoft weapons was seized when Issa was arrested, according to the security agencies.Earlier reporting by i24NEWS provided additional details about the alleged plot, including Issa’s work as a firefighter.According to the report, Issa used the access and familiarity with sensitive locations that he gained through his firefighting duties to identify potential targets.At least one strategic facility in central Israel that Issa had encountered through his work was allegedly marked as a potential target for an attack. The precise facility has not been publicly identified.Other reports said that Issa had planned to attack an Amdocs server center he had scouted out when called to the center in his capacity as a firefighter.The investigation also found that Issa had communicated with Hamas operatives and with an individual identified as being connected to Iranian intelligence.Those contacts were reportedly part of a broader process of radicalization that investigators believe began when Issa was about 16 and intensified following the outbreak of the Gaza war.Authorities additionally suspect that Issa sought to build a terrorist cell rather than act alone. According to the earlier reports, he attempted to recruit two acquaintances from Kafr Qasim into the group.Both men were arrested and held for approximately two weeks, but investigators did not develop sufficient evidence to indict them, according to reports.The Shin Bet and police announcement Tuesday did not publicly identify Issa’s intended target or say how close he had come to carrying out an attack. It also did not disclose whether a date had been selected.Following his interrogation by the Shin Bet and the Sharon investigative unit, prosecutors submitted a declaration to the Central District Court indicating that an indictment was being prepared against him.“The Shin Bet and Israel Police view with great severity any involvement of Israeli citizens in activity that puts state security at risk,” the agencies said in their joint statement. They pledged to continue using the measures available to them to prevent threats and prosecute those involved.The post Arab Israeli firefighter used his work as cover to plan terror attacks appeared first on World Israel News.