Israeli Citizen Planned Year-Long Terror Attack on Amdocs Server Farm
20-year-old from Kafr Qasim spent 18 months preparing to strike strategic target with explosives or drone-mounted device, volunteered as firefighter to scout locations
State prosecutors on Thursday filed an indictment at the Lod District Court against Mustafa Issa, a 20-year-old Israeli citizen from Kafr Qasim, charging him with nationalistically motivated security offenses over an alleged plan to bomb the Amdocs computer server farm in Ra'anana.
According to the indictment, filed by attorney Assaf Charlofsky of the Central District Prosecutor's Office, Issa decided to carry out a terror attack against a strategic target in Israel after the outbreak of the Iron Swords War. Over roughly 18 months, driven by nationalist and ideological motives, he planned an attack using either a planted explosive device or a bomb carried by a drone.
To advance the plan, prosecutors say, Issa volunteered with fire and rescue services and used that role to scout and gather intelligence on potential targets. He ultimately chose the Amdocs server farm, believing that damaging it would cause serious political and economic harm to the State of Israel.
As part of his preparations, the indictment says, he downloaded manuals, files and videos on making weapons and explosive devices and on how lone attackers operate, and used them as training material.
The indictment also states that Issa tried to build an explosive device by mixing flammable materials with the contents of fireworks and explosives he had bought. On another occasion, he prepared a mixture of sulfur, charcoal and other materials, which he destroyed after the experiment failed.
At the same time, prosecutors say, he bought a drone along with accessories that would allow an explosive to be attached to it, and watched instructional material on mounting explosives on drones.
Issa is charged with preparing a terror act involving malicious damage with explosive material, weapons offenses for terror purposes, and training or instruction for terror purposes.
The Central District Prosecutor's Office asked the court to keep him in custody until the end of the legal proceedings. In the detention request, prosecutors described him as highly dangerous, noting that he had already begun carrying out his plans to harm the State of Israel. They also cited his motive, the Iron Swords War and the IDF's operations during it, as well as the education he said he received in school to hate the State of Israel.