Court sentences Israeli Arab to three years in prison for involvement with ISIS

 

The prosecution, which had requested a 6-12 year prison sentence for Magamseh in order to send a message about the severity of  joining  IS and other terrorist groups in Syria to fight the Syrian Assad regime,  is considering appealing the lenient sentence.

 

Still, the Justice Ministry noted that the sentence was the stiffest so far for joining IS. 

 

Ahmed Shurbaji of Umm el-Fahm was sentenced to only 22 months in prison in November 2014, despite having taken part in two battles with IS.

 

The assessment was that the court granted Magamseh leniency due to his individual difficulties and circumstances, having had spent very little time with IS. 

 

The court appeared to have downplayed the importance of deterring others like Magamseh from joining IS in the future. 

 

In late March, Magamseh was convicted without fanfare of minor charges for membership in a banned organization, conspiracy to commit a crime, and illegally leaving the country. In April, the same court convicted him of contact with an enemy agent – Islamic State.

 

At his conviction, a three judge panel emphasized the massive dangers that Israeli Arabs joining up with Islamic State could have on Israel – both in terms of having citizens with full access to the country being turned into attackers, and in terms of the threat of having citizens provide dangerous intelligence about Israel to the terrorist organization.

 

Magamseh was arrested in October 2014 for traveling to Syria to join Islamic State. He left for Turkey on October 5 along with three friends from Yafia, a village adjacent to Nazareth, but only three of them decided to continue to Syria in order to join Islamic State. They crossed the border and contacted people from the group, according to the Shin Bet.

 

During his time with Islamic State, Magamseh was given the name Abu Omar al-Falastini. He was taken to al-Madafa training camp, about 90 minutes away, where he spent 10 days training before sneaking out, without notifying his IS commander.

 

The training was supposed to consist of 15 days of   Shari’a (Islamic law) studies mixed with military training, followed by 30 days of more advanced military training had he stayed in the course.

 

Magamseh was arrested upon landing at Ben-Gurion Airport on October 24.

 

Several Israeli Muslims have been arrested after returning from Syria, where they joined Islamic State or other rebel groups.

Most, like Magamseh, were only in the country for a short time, and did not see combat.