Israel foils wave of coordinated terror attacks in Jerusalem by Hamas cells based in Turkey

(WJD) Israel's internal security force, the Shin Bet, announced on Thursday that they recently busted a Hamas conspiracy to commit a series of major terrorist attacks in Israel.

According to the JPost,

It was cleared for publication on Thursday that the network planned to target the landmark Teddy soccer stadium in Jerusalem, the capital's light rail system, car bombings, and kidnappings of Israelis in the West Bank and overseas.

The mass murder plot was apparently based in Turkey, involved over 30 terrorist operatives, and involved training operations in Gaza, Syria, and Jordan, as well as Turkey.

Besides giving the terrorists the barbaric pleasure of killing Israelis, the Shin Bet believes the conspiracy had the larger goal of enabling

Hamas to "move the spotlight" away from Gaza ... and drag Israel into a harsh response in Judea and Samaria, resulting in the collapse of the Palestinian Authority, which is one of Hamas' central goals.

Such a conspiracy, involving the use of sudden and near-simultaneous terror attacks, is not Hamas' usual style. It is much more ambitious, and seems to reflect the influence of groups like al-Qaeda and the savage Islamist organization ISIS.