ISIS Militants. Photo: Screenshot, Fox News Sunday.

JNS.org – Seven Arab residents of northern Israel’s Galilee region were arrested in December and charged with establishing a local chapter of the Islamic State terror group, Israeli media reported Sunday upon the lifting of a gag order on the case. The Israeli Arabs have been charged with affiliation with a terrorist organization and contact with a foreign agent.

According to an indictment submitted Sunday, the suspects regularly met with a well-known Salafi sheikh in northern Israel who convinced them to wage jihad. Last June, they allegedly decided to join Islamic State to “punish infidels.”

One of the key suspects is attorney Adnan Ala a-Din, who according to the charges served as a military instructor for the group. During last summer’s Operation Protective Edge, a-Din urged the murder of Jews on his Facebook page.