Suspicions that Hamas was behind last week’s kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers deepened Thursday, with an Israeli security official naming Saleh al-Arouri, the founder of Hamas’s armed wing in the West Bank, as a key figure behind the abductions:
The official claimed al-Arouri, who used to live in a village north of Ramallah, has urged West Bank operatives incessantly to set up terror cells and perpetrate kidnappings. Al-Arouri has financially sponsored these cells, which were trained and directed to abduct Israelis. Often, that money was transferred through charities to obfuscate their real destination — the would-be kidnappers — the official said.
The official, speaking to veteran Arab affairs reporter Avi Issacharoff, said there was “no doubt that al-Arouri was connected” to the kidnappings. Earlier this year Israeli military officials attributed an uptick in Hamas-driven violence in the West Bank to Arouri, who is based in Turkey and has in recent years reportedly taken “sole control” of efforts to rebuild Hamas’s terror infrastructure in the West Bank. Washington Institute Senior Fellow Matt Levitt noted Thursday that Arouri’s ties to Hamas terror plots extend over decades:
Hamas leader Salah Arouri tied to kidnapping plot today, but ties to Hamas plots go back to early 1990s http://t.co/rLXEGjTVzE — Matthew Levitt (@Levitt_Matt) June 19, 2014
These latest allegations had already by mid-Thursday renewed concerns in the foreign policy community and in Washington over the extent to which Turkey, a U.S. counter-terror ally, has been facilitating terror activities in the region:
Will Turkey be held accountable if Saleh Aruri is indeed behind the West Bank abductions? http://t.co/wlrnrXQzzQ — Jonathan Schanzer (@JSchanzer) June 19, 2014
[Photo: AFP news agency / YouTube]