HAMAS TERRORIST CELL CAPTURED IN JERUSALEM

Here's a newly discovered example of how they're in the midst of Jerusalem's vicinity:

The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) has captured a Hamas terror cell that was operating in east Jerusalem and planning attacks against Israeli targets. One of the cell members was behind a bomb that seriously injured a Jerusalem Municipality worker in March.

The cell consisted of five residents of the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sur Baher who were arrested in February. The details were released on Thursday.

The cell began planning its attacks on the sidelines of Operation Cast Lead in 2009. Three of the members - Munir Atun, Ahmed Nimar and Ahmed Dawit - met in a restaurant in Sur Baher and discussed their frustration with the operation and their readiness to engage in anti-Israel terrorist activity.

The Shin Bet said that the three were known Hamas operatives and had familial links to Hamas. Nimar, 25, was in an Israeli prison between 2006-2007 and his brother began serving a sentence in 2010 for his involvement in Hamas activity and work he did on behalf of the Hamas command in Syria.

The three assembled an improvised explosive device with a gas balloon and hi[d] it. Later, Monir and Dawit drove to Bethlehem where they purchased a pistol for $5,000. During 2009 and 2010 the three met often in a coffee shop in Sur Baher owned by Dawit and discussed plans to attack a Jerusalem mall with a car bomb.

In the beginning of 2010, Jihad Atun, another Hamas operative from Sur Baher, contacted a Hamas operative in the Gaza Strip and asked to receive money that was intended for Hamas prisoners. Some $15,000 was sent to Atun from Jordan with the help of several money changers.

Atun's brother is serving a prison sentence for his involvement in the murder of three Israelis, including Border Policeman Nissim Toledano, in 1992. Following the murder, 415 Palestinian terror suspects, mostly from Hamas, were deported to Lebanon. Another brother was a Hamas legislator elected to the Palestinian parliament in 2006.

The Gaza-based Hamas operative later instructed Atun to purchase a new phone and informed him that contact would be made via encrypted email messages. He later sent Atun a code he could use to decipher the messages.

In February, the Gaza-based operative sent Atun a message and asked him to carry out an attack like the shooting attack at the Merkaz Harav Yeshiva in Jerusalem in 2008, in which eight students were killed. The operative transferred 10,000 Jordanian Dinars to Atun and promised to transfer 20,000 more in the near future. The cell planned to purchase an M-16 assault rifle and two pistols. At this stage, Atun was arrested by the Shin Bet.

This led the Shin Bet to Mahmoud Diwat, brother of Ahmed Diwat, the owner of the coffee shop. Mahmoud confessed to planting a bomb in a bush on Rehov Derech Hebron in Jerusalem which was found by a Jerusalem Municipality worker who lost part of his hand in the explosion.

Mahmoud said he had planned to plant the bomb at a hitchhiker post in Gilo used by residents of the Gush Etzion settlement bloc.

The five were indicted in Jerusalem District Court on Thursday.

It's good to see that the authorities took responsibility and tracked down the terrorists. But this is exactly why they're going to need to maintain more of a presence in the eastern neighborhoods if they're to keep terror cells from gaining a foothold here.