Following a joint investigation by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and the Israel Police, an eighteen-year-old Jerusalem man was charged on Thursday with attempting to join Islamic State, a banned organization under Israeli law. Prosecutors at Jerusalem District Court claimed that Fares Saritah, a resident of Jerusalem, who has lived for the past few years in the US, set his plan in motion to the join the notorious group by first flying to Turkey, a common jumping off point for ISIS hopefuls to enter Syria. According to the prosecution, in April, he convinced two of his family members to join ISIS along with him. But when Saritah landed in Istanbul in May his plan began to unravel. Turkish authorities would not allow him into the country because his passport was expired, so he decided to fly to Israel to renew his travel document with the aim of eventually traveling back to Turkey and onward to Syria to join ISIS, the prosecutor says. When he was back at home in the Arab village of Akeb in Jerusalem, the prosecution claims that Saritah stayed in contact with his two family members who successfully made it to Syria. The prosecution has asked to extend the accused's remand to custody until the end of the legal process against him. Several Israeli Muslims have been arrested after returning from Syria, where they joined Islamic State or other rebel groups.
