Israeli police thwarted what they say was a criminal plot camouflaged as right wing and ultra-Orthodox terror attacks. 11 suspects have been arrested.
A criminal plot disguised as right wing and haredi terror attacks was uncovered by Israeli police. According to Ynet, a criminal gang tried to blow up the Scientology center in Jaffa and a senior cleric at the city's Hassan Bek mosque.
The gang dressed as haredim for the Scientology attack, which failed due to a miscalculation with the explosive. For the mosque attack, they planned to spray paint right wing slogans near the site of the attack. The explosive device used in the mosque attack was discovered only hours before it was meant to be used.
Police sources told Ynet the case dates back to several 2010 arson cases, which caused over a million dollars in damages.
The motive for the Scientology attack was greed. According to Ynet, police say Gur Finkelstein, Scientology's legal representative in Israel (and, according to Ynet, worldwide, as well) ordered the building blown up:
…Police surveillance discovered that the man who ordered the "hit" on the Scientology center was none other than the Scientologists' very own legal representative in Israel and worldwide, Attorney Gur Finkelstein, who stood to benefit from the future reconstruction work, due to a close connection with the building contractors.
Police said that the suspects – including the Nizar Bakher, the Bakher family patriarch and his son Abdullah, as well as Finkelstein himself – have admitted their involvement..…
The motive for the planned mosque hit, sources say, was to settle a business dispute – with murder.
So far 11 suspects have been arrested. The state is expected to file formal indictments in the case later this the week.