SHIN BET THWARTS MAJOR HAMAS ATTACK

Click here to watch: Shin Bet Thwarts Major Hamas Attack on Jerusalem Soccer Stadium Members of a Hamas terror ring in the West Bank, run from the organization’s headquarters in Turkey, sought to carry out an array of major attacks, including on Jerusalem’s main soccer stadium and its light rail line, the Shin Bet security service said Thursday.  The Shin Bet announcement confirmed a Times of Israel report last week that said Israel had arrested dozens of members of a Hamas terror network operating throughout the West Bank. The network, Pa officials said, was funded and directed by Hamas officials in Turkey who have set up a de facto command center in the Muslim country.  More than 30 Hamas operatives were arrested during the month of September, the Shin Bet said Thursday. The majority were recruited while studying in Jordan and trained in either Syria or the Gaza Strip, which they entered via tunnels from Sinai.  The Shin Bet said the ring was preparing to kidnap Israelis in Israel and abroad, enter Israeli villages, detonate car bombs, perpetrate roadside attacks, and execute a major terror attack in Teddy Stadium, where the Israeli soccer team Beitar Jerusalem plays its home games.  The Shin Bet asserted that the plan was evidence of an “indefatigable” desire on Hamas’s part to rehabilitate its terror infrastructure in the West Bank and to tug Israel into a sharp military response, which might indirectly lead to the toppling of PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s regime, which is “one of Hamas’ goals.” Israel has appealed to the NATO coalition — of which Turkey is a member – and to the US leadership to take steps against Ankara for enabling Hamas terrorists to operate and plan terror attacks against Israelis from its territory.  “It is unthinkable that a NATO member should host a terror organization that trains and prepares terror attacks in its territory,” sources in Jerusalem said. Turkish officials vehemently denied the allegations, with diplomats calling the Israeli claims “lies and deceit,” Ynet reported.  “Turkey holds dialog with Hamas but would not under any circumstances allow a terror group to operate from its territory,” an official said. He ascribed the allegations to Israeli parties “who will do anything to torpedo efforts to settle the disputes between the countries and turn over a new leaf.” Source: Times of Israel