Jihadist cell arrested in Israel...

They even talked of targeting the Pope...

Eight residents of the northern city of Nazareth and the local council of Yafa an-Naseriyye were arrested last month on suspicion of dealing with weapons and discussing the possibility of murdering soldiers and Jews, and even target the pope.

The eight men, one of whom is a minor, were arrested by the Shin Bet on suspicion of committing various weapons-related offenses.

According to the indictment, the men expressed interest in jihad – a holy war undertaken by Muslims against those who do not believe in Islam. "The defendants, on their own and together, visited radical Islamic websites dealing with jihad and weapons, terror and arms, and spoke about jihad while examining possibilities for implementing it."

The eight indicted men were identified as Bader Salah, 33, of Yafa an-Naseriyye; Suhil Salah, 26, of Yafa an-Naseriyye; Misara Yaad, 28, of Yafa an-Naseriyye; Abdel Rahman Abu Salim, 19, of Nazareth; Ibrahim Muhammad Abu Aaqab, 27, of Nazareth; Bilal Ubeid, 29, of Yafa an-Naseriyye; and Sabri Narni, 29 of Yafa an-Naseriyye. The ninth defendant, who was a minor when he committed the alleged acts, was not named due to a gag order.

Judge Yonatan Avraham extended the eight defendants' remand until July 28 with their lawyers' consent.

According to the indictment, some of the defendants discussed the need to obtain a weapon and murder a Jew, and four of them discussed a plan to target soldiers. Two of them also discussed the possibility of targeting Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to Nazareth last year.

Two defendants explored the possibility of traveling to Chechnya and join the jihad of Muslim rebels against Russia, and three of them searched for anti-Islamic targets in order to act against them. In one case they planned to torch a Nazareth church, but failed to implement the plan due to an iron gate at the entrance.