Author: AFPWed, 2017-03-22ID: 1490126694674717300
JERUSALEM: An Arab Israeli who took her young family to Iraq and joined Daesh was sentenced to more than four years in prison Tuesday, the Justice Ministry said.
Sabreen Zbedat spent months in the Daesh stronghold Mosul with her husband and three children, in the first known case of an entire Arab Israeli family joining Daesh, Israel’s domestic security agency Shin Bet said.
A Haifa court sentenced Zbedat, from the northern Israeli town of Sakhnin, to 50 months in prison for traveling to an enemy country and taking part in terrorist activities.
Zbedat was 30 when she and her husband Wissam, then 41, flew to Romania in June 2015 with their children ages 3, 6 and 8, the Shin Bet and Israeli police said.
From there they traveled to Turkey, Syria and finally Iraq, where Daesh recruited them, the authorities said.
The police said Sabreen had convinced her husband to join the group. He received religious instruction and military training before going into battle.
Wounded in the leg, he was hospitalized in Mosul where the family was living.
Sabreen worked at a hospital there and the children attended schools, Israeli police said.
They decided to leave Mosul because of bombing by an international coalition against Daesh, harsh conditions imposed by the terrorists and pressure from relatives in Israel.
The return journey took eight months, according to the Israeli police.
After several failed attempts, the family passed from Syria into Turkey, paying thousands of dollars to smugglers. After crossing the border, they were arrested.
They finally arrived back in Israel on Sept. 22, where the parents were arrested and the children were put in the care of relatives.
The husband, Wissam, is still on trial, according to local media.
Several Arabs from northern Israel have been detained for alleged links with Daesh. Around 50 Israeli Arabs are believed to be among its ranks in Syria and Iraq.
Israeli Arabs are the descendants of Palestinians who remained on their land after the creation of Israel in 1948.
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