Israel indicts 3 Arabs on espionage charges


(AP)

JERUSALEM — Israel has indicted three Arab men on charges of spying for Syria.

The Shin Bet security service reported on Thursday that two Druse Arabs living in the Golan Heights and an Arab citizen of Israel were charged with passing information to the enemy and plotting to kidnap a Syrian pilot who had defected to Israel.

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 war. The two indicted Druse Arabs — a father and son — are Syrian citizens, like most of the Druse in the Golan Heights.

Thousands of Druse surrounded the home of one of the two charged Druse Arabs when police arrived to arrest him in July, trapping officers inside for hours before the standoff ended peacefully.

Israel has recently charged several Israeli Arabs with espionage.

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