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Israel accused six Arabs on Friday of trying to set up an al-Qaida cell in Israel and said one of them had proposed attacking helicopters used during a visit by President George Bush.
Israel’s Shin Bet counter-intelligence agency said one of the suspects had used his mobile phone to film helicopters at a sports stadium in Jerusalem that was used as a landing site for Bush’s delegation.
The suspect then posted queries on websites frequented by al-Qaida operatives, asking for guidance on how to shoot down the helicopters, the agency said in a statement.
Bush visited Israel in January and again in May. Lawyers representing the six suspects could not immediately be reached for comment.
Two of the arrested men are students of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, according to the statement released by Shin Bet. The other four are Palestinian residents of east Jerusalem.
It said the men had met several times at Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque, seeking to organize a local al-Qaida network.
The agency said bomb-making instructions on the personal computers of several of the six new suspects, the Shin Bet said. But the statement gave no indication that their activities ever moved be yond the planning stage.
None face charges of active involvement in any attacks. The men were arrested in June and July, the statement said. But the information was only approved for publication on Friday, the day the men were to be indicted in a Jerusalem court.
Earlier this month, Israel indicted two of its Bedouin Arab citizens for links to al-Qaida and for planning attacks inside the Jewish state.
The two men gave al-Qaida operatives information about strategic sites like army bases, skyscrapers and Israel's international airport that could serve as targets, a statement released by Shin Bet said

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