The Shin Bet security agency has foiled a plot to assassinate senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, the agency revealed Tuesday.
The Shin Bet said the suspects in custody in the plot include a 30-year-old resident of the Shuafat refugee camp in east Jerusalem and that the scheme was orchestrated from Syria, to target Netanyahu and Barkat.
According to the agency, the suspect, Israeli citizen Mahmoud Rashdeh, had also collected intelligence on his Syrian handler's behalf to target the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem and visiting Canadian officials.
Rashdeh is a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist organization and was imprisoned in Israel from 2005 to 2008 for setting fire to a home belonging to Jews in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Pisgat Ze'ev.
The Shin Bet investigation also discovered that the groundwork had been put in place to bring a terrorist operative from Jordan into Israel to help carry out some of the planned attacks.
Barkat said he was kept in the loop throughout the investigation, had not changed his routine at all, and that "no threat will deter us."
There was no immediate comment from Netanyahu.
