The results of a year-long covert investigation were revealed on Friday in Be'er Sheva, with the indictment of a 24-year-old Bedouin citizen accused of spying on Israel on behalf of Al-Qaida. A gag order lifted that day revealed that Khaled Abu Rakak from Tel Sheva was arrested in late July following a prolonged investigation by the Shin Bet security service. He is accused of trying to establish a cell that would carry out suicide bombings inside Israel. Police said that Rakak was charged over alleged contacts with Al-Qaida, as well as with the Islamic Jihad terror organization. According to the indictment, Abu Rakak would frequently surf Web sites affiliated with Al-Qaida and the Islamic Jihad, and also corresponded with other surfers, from whom he received video files displaying terrorist activities. He also allegedly compiled instruction manuals for preparing explosive charges, and the indictment accuses Abu Rakak of planning to plant charges on routes used by Israel Defense Forces patrols.
Rakak's arrest was the third apprehension in one month of Israeli Arabs for alleged links to Al-Qaida. In early July, two Bedouin citizens from Rahat were arrested under suspicion of passing strategic information to Al-Qaida, a charge the men's relatives are denying. Khaled Abu Rakak's father, Khalil, said the entire case was fabricated. "They framed us with things we never committed," he told Haaretz. The father, who is the head of Tel Sheva's education department, said he did not care to elaborate on the subject. Later in July, six Arabs - two of them Israeli citizens and the other four Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem - were also arrested for alleged links to Al-Qaida. The suspects allegedly planned to attack U.S. President George W. Bush's helicopter during one of his recent visits to the region.