Israeli man charged with plotting terrorist attack on data center in Ra’anana

The charges cover preparation for a terrorist act involving explosives, a weapons offense for terrorist purposes, and receiving training or instruction for terrorist purposes.

An Israeli man was charged on Thursday with preparing a terrorist attack on a data center in Ra’anana, after allegedly using his volunteer work with the fire service to visit the site and explore ways to deliver an explosive.

Prosecutors identified the proposed target as a server facility belonging to the technology company Amdocs. The indictment describes preparations for an attack; it does not allege that an explosive was placed at or flown to the facility.

Mustafa Issa, from Kafr Kassem, was charged at the Central District Court in Lod with three terrorism offenses. The prosecution also asked the court to keep him in custody until the proceedings against him conclude.

According to the indictment, Issa decided amid the war in Gaza to attack what he considered a strategic target in Israel. Prosecutors say he considered planting an explosive or dropping one from a drone. They place his alleged planning between January 2025 and his arrest a month ago, on August 16.

Issa began volunteering with the Fire and Rescue Authority in May 2025, the indictment says. Through that work, he visited the Ra’anana server facility. Prosecutors allege that he chose it as his target because he believed damaging it would cause Israel political and economic harm.

Viewed videos about making weapons, explosives, terror methods

The indictment says Issa downloaded files and videos about making weapons and explosives, and about methods used in attacks carried out by individuals acting alone. He allegedly used the material to try to assemble an explosive device with substances taken from fireworks and firecrackers he had bought.

In a separate experiment, prosecutors say, Issa mixed sulfur, charcoal and other materials and ignited them. When the mixture failed to explode, he destroyed the materials, according to the indictment. Around the time he began volunteering with the fire service, he also bought a drone and an attachment capable of carrying items beneath it, and watched material about fitting explosives to drones, prosecutors allege.

The charges cover preparation for a terrorist act involving explosives, a weapons offense for terrorist purposes, and receiving training or instruction for terrorist purposes. They remain allegations that prosecutors must prove in court.

In their request to keep Issa detained, prosecutors cited what they described as his account to investigators, instructions found on his phone, and a fire service supervisor’s statement that he had visited the facility. The request also lists drones, drone attachments, tactical vests and airsoft guns among items found at his home. Prosecutors argue that the equipment and experiments show he had begun acting on his plan. The same filing says he has no prior criminal record.

The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and Israel Police investigated the case and made Issa’s arrest public on Tuesday.