A man suspected of planting a bomb that exploded at the Israeli Health Ministry in 2021 was extradited on Monday, December 16, from Morocco, where he had been arrested and detained, the Israeli State Attorney’s Office said.
According to the Jerusalem Post, Nassim Kabilat is suspected of being behind the bombing that took place in Nazareth, northern Israel, in November 2021. According to an indictment, he was charged with detonating, via remote control, an explosive device he had placed in the vicinity of the Health Ministry’s office in the city.
Kabilat managed to flee Israel in March 2022 but was later arrested in Morocco. In January 2023, Moroccan authorities announced the arrest of the suspect and promised extradition to Israel.
Local Israeli reports revealed at the time that it was the first time Israel had asked Morocco to extradite an individual since the signing of the Abraham Accords in 2020.
However, the extradition took longer than expected. «It is unfortunate that the extradition process took such a long time, even though the individual in question expressed his desire to return to Israel quickly to prove his innocence», Israeli attorney Nick Kaufman said.
Kaufman said that Kabilat allegedly had been «suffering greatly in detention in Morocco, and he agreed to be extradited to Israel at the first opportunity to prove his innocence».
«Many attempts were made to expedite the process, if only due to the deplorable detention conditions in Morocco, with the defense being more active than the Israeli government in this regard», the attorney added.