The State Attorney’s Office on Monday indicted a mathematics lecturer at Bar-Ilan University for allegedly planning a series of mass terrorist attacks, motivated by nationalist ideology, against hundreds of Arab citizens of Israel and Palestinians.
The defendant, a Petah Tikva resident in his 60s, cannot be named under a court-issued publication ban.
The goal, according to the prosecution, was forced mass transfer. The defendant called the plan “AY”T,” a Hebrew acronym for “Am Ya’aseh Transfer,” which roughly translates to, “the people will carry out transfer.”
He was charged in the Central District Court in Lod with preparing to commit an act of terrorism under the Counter-Terrorism Law, extortion by threats, and obstruction of justice. Prosecutors also asked the court to keep him in custody until the conclusion of the legal proceedings against him.
According to the indictment, he developed the plan from early February 2023 until his arrest about two weeks ago. The prosecution said it was initially fueled by the May 2021 riots during Operation Guardian of the Walls and intensified after the outbreak of the Swords of Iron war.
The idea was to activate different terrorist cells simultaneously in different locations. The prosecution said the defendant also conducted a reconnaissance tour around Tuba-Zanghariya to examine possible access and attack routes.
The alleged plan envisioned 72 Jewish attackers, including the defendant, at least half of whom would have firearms licenses. They were to be divided into 12 cells of six people each and use a variety of weapons, including handguns, rifles, axes, and hammers.
The intended targets were mixed cities and Arab communities throughout Israel, including Tuba-Zanghariya in the North, which the indictment describes as a primary target.
The plan further called for the terrorist cells to receive assistance and support coordinated in advance with subversive elements who would be recruited from within the IDF, including the bombardment of Arab population centers by the Air Force, Artillery Corps, and Armored Corps.
According to the indictment, the practical section of the plan instructed members of the public to join in “carrying out mass killings and rapidly seizing areas of friction, roads, entrances to and exits from Arab communities, mixed cities and hospitals… Do not show mercy even to the women or their cruel and repulsive children; do not stop in the face of pleas; harden your hearts. Any pause will lead to an intolerable state of chaos, followed by the massacre of Jews.”
The simultaneous mass terrorist attacks, amplified and publicized on social media in real time, were intended to cause all Arab citizens of Israel, including Bedouins, as well as Palestinians living in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, to flee or be permanently expelled to Jordan, Lebanon, and the Gaza Strip, according to the indictment.
Attempted recruitment of Moshe Feiglin
The defendant tried for about a year and a half to recruit supporters to join him, but none agreed, the indictment states.
In particular, he allegedly sought to recruit Zehut chairman Moshe Feiglin, who is No. 2 on the joint Religious Zionist Party-Zehut electoral list. He intended to enlist Feiglin and, with his help, recruit additional activists to take part in the plan.
The defendant attended two of Feiglin’s public events and tried to arrange a meeting with him and give him a summary of the plan, but Feiglin did not respond to any of his approaches, according to the indictment.
About a month ago, the defendant allegedly wrote a letter addressed to Feiglin in which he threatened to distribute it and, in his view, damage Feiglin’s public standing ahead of the election unless Feiglin cooperated and helped advance the plan.
About two days later, he allegedly went to Feiglin’s home, gave the letter to a passing neighbor, and asked her to deliver it. He later attended a Zehut event at Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda market and, through another woman, delivered several copies of the letter and a second letter containing a similar threat to the party’s director-general.
Feiglin's team said it filed a police complaint as soon as the letter was received.
The indictment further alleges that the defendant tried to conceal his activities and prevent the plan from being discovered. Among other measures, he allegedly wrote his documents by hand rather than on a computer, wore a protective mask, hat, and sunglasses when meeting prospective recruits, used a false name, and borrowed passersby’s phones to contact others.
Bar-Ilan said in response that it “condemns in the strongest possible terms and is deeply appalled” by the attributed acts to the lecturer. The university also called on authorities to “pursue the matter to the fullest extent of the law, should the allegations be substantiated.”
It added, “The university has, and will continue to have, zero tolerance for conduct of this nature – conduct that is fundamentally incompatible with the values we share as Jews, as Israelis, and as human beings, and that stands in clear opposition to the values of Bar-Ilan University.”
It concluded, “The lecturer will be suspended from his duties with immediate effect, pending the conclusion of the legal proceedings.”