Immediately prior to President Barack Obama’s ISIS speech on Wednesday, Israeli government ministers and senior security officers gathered to discuss the threats posed by Islamist terror organizations in the region.
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch, Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) head Yoram Cohen, Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino, and Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein were among those at the meeting where the participants discussed what legal measures could be taken against those expressing sympathy for these groups, and what tools could be used to keep the organizations from using the Internet to further their goals.
Measures were discussed during the meeting to prevent the possibility of the establishment in Israel of Islamic State (ISIS) cells or those that identify or seek to aid the extremist organization…
The Prime Minister’s Office told the media that “law enforcement officials were instructed to step up their measures against extremist activities, including those online.”
For now, the working assumption appears to be that ISIS does not have active cells in Israel or the West Bank, as Haaretz correspondent Amos Harel explained today:
According to Israeli intelligence agencies, there are as yet no signs that the Islamic State has any significant presence among Israeli Arabs or Palestinians in the territories. The growing radicalization of some Islamic movements is worrying, in and of itself, and has included occasional shows of sympathy for the new regional player’s murderous campaign.
But the organization isn’t here yet – not on the Temple Mount, not in Umm al-Fahm and not in Gaza – even if black flags are occasionally seen at demonstrations. Israel has information about a few dozen Israeli Arabs who have gone to Syria to join the rebels’ fight against the Assad regime, but it has no indication that they have necessarily joined the Islamic State as opposed to one of the other rebel groups.
ISIS is not the sole non-state actor challenging Israel; Hezbollah continues to operate beyond Israel’s northern borders, while Hamas retains its grip on Gaza and numerous terror organization are active in the northern half of the Sinai Peninsula.
[Photo: Pete Souza/White House / flickr]