Palestinian Aid Worker Plotted Assassinations

Mizab Bashir, a 25-year old translator, was indicted today in Jerusalem on many counts involving intelligence gathering and developing plans towards assassinating the Prime Minister and many other key political officials. These murders were intended to avenge the deaths of Palestinian militants. Bashir worked as an aid worker for the organization Doctors Without Borders, a position that he has held for six years. It was not until last year that he was granted an Israeli travel permit that enabled him to cross the border of Palestine and enter Jerusalem. While in Jerusalem, he had done much in the way of reconnaissance work and intelligence gathering as he planned for and plotted future terror attacks. He made a mistake, however, when he started staking out a building that he thought was an Israeli government building but was actually the US Consulate. This soon led to his eventual capture on April 19th.

This situation should highlight many things in Israel's favor. One, Israel allowed this man and the humanitarian organization he worked for free access into and out of their country, in spite of the fact that he was an Arab. Also, he had been allowed to work in Israel for over a year before being captured. It was during this time that he became skilled in hand to hand combat and other measures that would fit him towards the action of taking out a high-ranking government official when the situation presented itself. Thankfully, Israeli forces where on top of their security game, as always, and were able to apprehend this man before any serious harm was done. That they were able to single him out and prevent any act of terror from occurring is a tribute to their own intelligence program. It should give the Prime Minister reason to rest safely knowing that the team of people protecting him are some of, if not the, finest fighters in the world.