Israel Indicts Suspected ISIS Members for Plot To Attack Nazareth School Over Sex Ed

Six Arab Israeli citizens were arrested on suspicion of planning an attack on an Israeli high school on behalf of the Islamic State group (ISIS), the Shin Bet security agency and the Israel Police announced in a joint statement on Sunday. The suspects are residents of Nazareth, in Israel’s Galilee region, and are suspected of being members of an ISIS cell. They were indicted for conspiracy to “commit terrorism, preparation for an act of terrorism, conspiracy to trade in weapons, and membership in a terrorist organization,” the statement said. The cell reportedly planned to target a Nazareth high school because it was teaching sex education. Several other attacks were also allegedly planned. Nazareth is a predominantly Arab city; about 69% of its 80,000 residents are Muslims and 31% are Christians. Fathi Fukara, a lawyer for one of the suspects was quoted on the Hebrew-language Ynet news site as saying his client denies any ties to ISIS. “He is a normative young man without any criminal record who works in various occasional jobs. He denies having planned to carry out terrorist attacks throughout the north,” Fukara said.