Israeli intelligence accused Hezbollah of recruiting Palestinians to carry out operations in Israeli settlements and other sites.
It revealed that one man was brought to court on charges of carrying out terrorist acts and that the official in charge of this file from Hezbollah is called Mohammed Ataya.
“Hezbollah recruited a Palestinian man to carry out attacks against Israel in the West Bank," Ofir Gendelman, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Arabic-language spokesperson, said Monday.
“This is another failed attempt by Mohammad Ataya, commander of the Hezbollah unit that recruits Palestinians to carry out terror attacks,” he added in a tweet moments later.
Ataya directs Hezbollah’s 113 Unit, which aims to compile intelligence and build up operational capabilities to carry out what it describes as revenge attacks against Israel.
According to the results of the investigation, he was recruited by Hezbollah in May 2017 through a Lebanese "profile" on Facebook.
He was supposed to receive money from the Lebanese officer in charge from Hezbollah to buy a laptop to communicate with him through a secret program.
Badawi planned to carry out the operations after receiving the money, but he was arrested before he could do so.
The statement pointed out that investigations with Badawi showed he had worked in arms trade and threw stones at Israeli military forces, who were working in the area of his residence.
“The method used by Hezbollah to recruit Badawi is a well-known method for the activity of this organization, as was evident during other investigations conducted during the last year,” the statement stressed.
