According to Israel’s Shin Bet security agency, Yasmin Jaber was arrested last month under suspicion of trying to recruit “Israeli and Palestinian civilians and residents to carry out terrorist activities in Israel,” the Times of Israel reported.
Jaber was recruited by Hezbollah during an international youth conference in Lebanon in 2015, the Shin Bet claimed in a Thursday news release.
Jaber is accused of communicating with her Hezbollah handler through coded messages on social media. The Shin Bet also claimed the Palestinian resident was instructed to recruit Arab Israeli operatives for the militant group within Israel.
“This Shin Bet investigation … is the product of a lengthy intelligence operation to locate those suspected of being recruited by Hezbollah. It is another step in the counterterrorism efforts carried out in the past year against [Iranian] Quds Force and Hezbollah attempts to recruit Israeli Arabs,” a senior Shin Bet official said in a statement obtained by the Times of Israel.
On Thursday, Jaber’s employer, the National Library at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, released a statement expressing surprise that Jaber has been accused of “such grave offenses.”
“The security services did not update us over the past weeks as to her arrest. The Library will help in every possible way with the investigation in the event that we are asked to do,” a spokesperson for the National Library said.
