Posted on 09/09/2002 10:40:31 PM PDT by Cinnamon Girl
Jerusalem police and Shin Bet security officers have foiled a plot by three young East Jerusalem residents to poison food and drink at the city's Cafe Rimon.
Police disclosed Monday the arrests of the three young suspects who confessed to developing the poison plot. Sufian Bakri Abdu, 23 from Jabal Mukkaber, Moussa Mohammed Nasser, 22, from Ras el-Amud, and assistant chef Utman Said Kianyah, 23 from Silwan, were arrested three weeks ago on the basis of intelligence information gathered by the Shin Bet.
The group worked with Hamas and had secured information about poisons from the Internet, police spokesmen said. Using emails and Hamas-affiliated Web sites, the three received were given orders for terror attacks, along with "recipes" for poisoning. The suspects told police the poison they intended to use on Cafe Rimon patrons has no taste nor smell and takes effect 15 hours after being taken. It produces symptoms similar to a heart attack, they said.
Police spokesman Gil Kleiman said the suspects are believed to have experimented on cats to try to identify poisons that left no traces of foul play. Police said Monday that the arrests were made after one of the three visited a pharmacy to buy tablets that might produce symptoms similar to a heart attack.
"We tried to protect against all threats but we didn't think of this way [of attacking the cafe]. We had checked and asked about our workers, but no one saw any problems with them," cafe owner Ronen Rimon told Israel Radio. On the arrest of his employee, he said: "We didn't suspect anything. He's a good worker who sat down with me just a week ago to discuss a raise."
Investigation of the suspects has established that Sufian Abdu also plotted a suicide bomb attack on a procession by members of the Tekuma movement in Jerusalem's Old City last month. He was arrested with Nasser just a day before he expected to receive explosives.
Police and investigators seized computer-based correspondence conducted by Abdu which indicated his ties to Palestinian terror organizations. Indictments against Abdu and Nasser were submitted in Jerusalem District Court yesterday. Remand orders for Kianyah were extended until September 11.
In August 2001, police charge, Abdu established email links with Hamas operatives, including a Hamas man using the alias Abu Elaz. Abdu expressed his willingness to help Hamas, and Elaz subsequently appointed him to run a Hamas Internet forum. Abdu recruited his friend Nasser for work on the Hamas-affiliated Internet sites and Nasser developed an extensive email network with Hamas activists.
Abdu later asked Nasser to open up a bank account through which Hamas money could be funneled. Nasser complied and opened an account in an Azzariyeh village bank. Elaz asked Nasser to track down an engineering expert who might help Hamas produce Kassam missiles. Nasser also complied with this request and found an engineer in Egypt. With Nasser working as a mediator, the engineer sent missile making tips to Hamas, police investigators charge.
Early last August, Abdu asked Nasser to set up an Internet site for use in Hamas fund-raising efforts. Nasser was arrested before he could put the site on line.
In July, Abdu decided to carry out the suicide attack in revenge for the assassination of Hamas leader Salah Shehadah in the Gaza Strip. To advance this terror plan, Abdu sent email messages to a Hamas military figure code-named Abu Sakar.
Abdu sent inquiries about a suicide strike, but Abu Sakar proposed that he poison food at Cafe Rimon. In subsequent correspondence with Abu Sakar, Abdu received instructions about preparing poisons. Abdu made contact with Kianyah, an assistant cook at Cafe Rimon. The two worked out a plot in which Abdu would supply the poison and Kianyah was to slip it into patrons' food and drink. Kianyah had the idea to use cats in trial experiments with various poisons, police investigators say.
A month ago Abdu bought a drug at a pharmacy near Jerusalem's Damascus Gate. Abdu conducted a number of tests with the drug, but he found it difficult to follow instructions for preparing poison, investigators say. He then returned to his original plan of using a bomb in a suicide attack.
He contacted Abu Sakar and asked him to put him in touch with Hamas operatives who could supply explosives. In reply, Abu Sakar sent bomb-making instructions by emails.
In early August, Abdu and Nasser met at the Al Aqsa Mosque. Nasser proposed that Abdu attack the Jewish procession scheduled for the Old City. Abu Sakar, however, sent an email message instructing the two not to carry out this attack. The two then decided to get explosives to carry out an alternative attack. They were tracked down and arrested by Israeli security agents just a day before they planned the suicide attack.
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Well, not so fast. They are bringing all kinds of diseases into this country. How wonderful that they are handling our food at restaurants.
She was so grossed out.
A big chunk of the problem in Israel is caused by Israel's dependence on Palestinian labor. When it comes to laying bricks, washing dishes, cleaning streets, etc., Israeli citizens prefer to hire out this work to Palestinians. Under the circumstances it doesn't make a lot of sense.
Very true. About 13 years ago I was working on a project with the Israeli Electric Company and would frequent their offices in Haifa regularly. One night we were working quite late, when a gentlemen in his late 50’s walked in and asked, in rather lilting Hebrew, if he could clean the office. Without thinking, I answered him in English, instead of my pidgin Hebrew, and he replied in almost perfect English with a heavy Russian accent. I struck up a conversation with him, and found out to my surprise that he was an orthopedic surgeon. He had emigrated to Israel from the Soviet Union in 1987, and here he was cleaning offices in the IEC complex for a living.
He went on to explain that there were no positions that he could fill at any Israeli hospital and this was all he could find. He also said he was waiting for a working visa from Bolivia, where he could find a position as a surgeon. I ask him how he felt about leaving Israel, and he said "Everyone here is overqualified".
Back then most pali’s I saw were garbage men, and laborers. I’m sure many others worked in restaurants and such, but I didn’t see them.
Good question. Where was the Machgiach (kosher supervisor)? While it is permitted to employ non-Jewish workers at a kosher establishment, the Machgiach is responsible for making sure that the food is prepared according to the rules of kashrus. Was the Machgiach drunk or asleep on the job? Or did they make sure to buy a bottle of poison with a hechsher (kosher certification label)?
I know many people who are particular to eat at only kosher mehadrin (most stringent supervision) establishments, that employ only haredi Jewish workers. As someone delicately explained, "Arabs p!$$ and c%@p in the food."
Could they be practicing on Saudi princes?
Run them all out of Dodge City !
Most small town hospitals in the U.S. seem to have more Middle Eastern and Pakistani medical doctors than Americans on staff. How comforting - just think what terror they could inflict.
On 9/11/01, there were reports of Middle Eastern doctors from one of our local hospitals celebrating the attacks. Reportedly, an American dr. punched a Saudi dr. in the nose, but the whole thing was hushed up.
Why aren't we hearing PETA protest this?
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