IDF Intelligence Unit Prevents ISIS Airliner Attack in Australia
JERUSALEM, Israel – Israel Defense Forces Unit 8200 tipped off Australian police days before ISIS-affiliated terrorists could blow up an Australian airliner last summer, according to information cleared for publication Wednesday.
Concrete information provided by the IDF's premier Intelligence unit thwarted a plot to blow up an Etihad Airways plane traveling from Sydney to Abu Dhabi last July, preventing a potentially catastrophic event.
On Wednesday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told participants of the Conference of the Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations that Unit 8200 is the second largest intelligence unit in the world. It provides intelligence and cyber-related information to the IDF and beyond.
"Thank you to the Israel intelligence forces," Netanyahu said. "We revealed today that Israel's intelligence services prevented the shooting down of an Australian airliner, and I can tell you that this is one of many, many such actions that we did preventing terrorism around the world. They deserve all your support, not only for protecting the people of Israel, but protecting people everywhere around the world."
According to Israeli media, a senior Islamic State operative shipped "military grade" explosives from Turkey to Australia via air cargo. A local ISIS commander then taught two brothers who would carry out the attack how to build a bomb to fit inside a piece of carry-on luggage.
One of them, described as a 49-year-old from Sydney, tried to deliver the luggage to his brother who was supposed to take it on board. He reportedly never delivered it and left the airport with the suitcase, while his brother boarded the flight.
Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Michael Phelan told reporters at the time it would have been a "catastrophic event."
"This is one of the most sophisticated plots that has ever been attempted on Australian soil," Phelan said, the Times of Israel reported. "If it hadn't been for the great work of our intelligence agencies and law enforcement over a very quick period of time, then we could well have a catastrophic event in this country."
According to the report, the terrorists' backup plan was to release hydrogen sulfide gas on public transportation or another crowded area. But Israeli intelligence officers tipped off the police, who arrested the suspects before they could carry out the plan.
More than half of Unit 8200's employees are in their 20s, 36 percent career officers, 3 percent civilians and 61 percent soldiers serving their compulsory military duty.
