FBI arrests Arab-Israeli who recruited for ISIS in Wisconsin

Waheba Issa Dais encouraged an individual, whom she believed to be an ISIS supporter, to conduct an attack on the United States in the name of ISIS.

By ERIC SUMNER
Updated: JUNE 15, 2018 02:11
Crime scene [illustrative] (photo credit: INGIMAGE)
Crime scene [illustrative]
(photo credit: INGIMAGE)
The FBI arrested an Arab-Israeli in Cudahy, Wisconsin, on Wednesday for attempting to provide material support and resources to Islamic State, according to the US Justice Department.
Waheba Issa Dais, 45, used multiple social media accounts she hacked and hijacked from unwitting victims to attempt to “provide services, personnel, expert advice and assistance to ISIS, by promoting ISIS’s agenda, facilitating recruitment and maintaining a virtual library of instructions on how to make bombs, biological weapons, poisons and suicide vests to assist self-proclaimed ISIS members and supporters in their attack planning,” according to the criminal complaint filed against her.
Dais, a legal permanent resident of Wisconsin, used one of her pro-ISIS accounts to encourage an individual whom she believed to be an ISIS supporter – apparently an FBI informant – to conduct an attack on the United States in the name of ISIS.
According to the Justice Department, Dais explained to the informant in detail how to make ricin, a highly toxic poison. She then encouraged the informant to introduce the ricin to a government post or water reservoir. In another social media post, she suggested potential targets for bombing attacks, including summer street festivals and celebrations.
Dais appeared before a federal magistrate judge Wednesday after she was arrested.
She faces a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000.
“A criminal complaint is merely an allegation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law,” the Justice Department clarified in a press release.
The case was investigated by the FBI Milwaukee Division’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Dais is not the first Israeli national to be arrested for assisting ISIS.
Earlier this year, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) revealed that it arrested Hassan Taher Shir Yusuf, a resident of the Arab-Israeli city of Taiba, on suspicion of supporting the terrorist group and planning an attack.
Yusuf had watched explanatory videos on how to prepare explosives and even tried to find someone to purchase an M16 rifle for him.
In 2016, three ISIS-sympathizing Israeli men were arrested for trying to build a terror tunnel from the Arab town of Taiba, located 12 km. east of Kfar Saba, across the Green Line and into the West Bank.
Anna Ahronheim contributed to this report.