Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) – Authorities have arrested six Arab men, all in their early 20s, suspected of trying to set up an al Qaeda network inside Israel.
 
One of the suspects wanted to shoot down President Bush's helicopter earlier this year, Israel’s Shin Bet (secret service) was quoted as saying.
 
“The six were part of a closed religious group that was working in the area of Jerusalem in preparation for establishing an al Qaeda infrastructure in Israel,” a government statement said.
 
The suspects include two Israeli Arabs from northern Israel and four Arabs who live in eastern Jerusalem neighborhoods. Two of the suspects are students at Hebrew University, which is on the western Jewish side of the city.
 
The six allegedly met at the Al Aksa mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. They also visited extremist Islamic Internet sites, including some that were identified with al Qaeda, the Shin Bet said in a statement.
 
One student lived in a dorm with a view of the university stadium’s helicopter landing pad. He used his cell phone to snap pictures of the pad and reportedly checked the Internet for instructions on how to bring down a helicopter.
 
The six were charged with membership in a terrorist organization. Some also were charged with aiding the enemy in a time of war, possessing propaganda materials of a terror organization and trying to solicit others to join a terror group.
 
Yoram Schweitzer, director of the terror project at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, said it is not surprising that al Qaeda or its affiliates would try to recruit Israeli Arabs or Palestinians, although it may not have happened that way in this particular case.
 
Al Qaeda is trying to infiltrate Israel from both the northern and southern borders and trying to activate people living in the West Bank, he said.
 
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said that the six suspects are not connected to two Beduin Israeli Arabs who were recently arrested in southern Israel on suspicion of trying to establish an al Qaeda cell in Israel.
 
One of the two cousins allegedly become involved with extremist Islam two years ago and began visiting Internet sites identified with al Qaeda and global jihad, security services said.
 
They were suspected of giving al Qaeda information on strategic sites for terror attacks, including Israeli army bases, a skyscraper complex in Tel Aviv and Israel’s international airport.
 
That was the first time that Israeli citizens had been accused of cooperating with al Qaeda.