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On October 31, 2015 a Russian Airbus A321 plane was shot down on its way from the Sinai Peninsula to Saint Petersburg by a bomb that was planted under one of the plane’s seats. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the terror attack and said that it had been able to detect a security breach at the international airport in Sharm El-Sheikh in the Sinai Peninsula. The force of the blast on the plane was equivalent to one kilogram of TNT explosive material which, according to the organization, had been hidden in a beverage can. The attack, which was carried out in the wake of Russia’s involvement in the war in Syria, caused the plane to crash and killed all 224 people on board.

Written by Dr. Eitan Azani, Lorena Atiyas Lvovsky and Danielle Haberfeld 

To some, President Barack Obama was weak and vacillating on ISIS and homegrown terrorism, and on America’s resolve in Syria, Afghanistan and Iran. But his heavier reliance on drones and special ops raised the stakes in the war on terror in ways that could impact future administrations.

First published in the Mark News

The new Israeli counter-terrorism bill, that was put forth by the Government,constitutes an attempt to regulate internal Israeli legislation and adjust the tools at the authorities’ disposal to cope with renewed terrorism threats, while striking an appropriate balance between the state’s security interests and its need to safeguard the fundamental principles of the liberal-democratic system and the human rights that it protects.

This position paper was written by Mr. Uri Ben Yaakov, Senior Researcher, and Dr. Dror Harel, Research Fellow, with the assistance of the ICT team and their colleagues.   

The Ragonis Foundation Scholarship at The International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) and the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (IDC), promotes research in counter-terrorism and homeland security among IDC Students and IDF Soldiers and officers.

This paper of Prof. Phineas Dickstein and Mrs. Sarah Vanunu was ranked by the Decision Committee at the 2nd honorable place in the Eyal Ragonis Memorial Competition for 2016-2017.

In this edition of Counter Terrorism Today Mr. Dan Diker invited several prominent experts in the fields of national security, counterterrorism and Middle Eastern studies to discuss Turkey’s unstable role in the Middle East.

On July 26, 2016, nine militants were killed in ‘Operation Storm 26’ carried out by the Joint Forces including Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) personnel, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), the Detective Branch (DB) of the Police and the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), in capital Dhaka’s Kalyanpur area. One militant identified as Rakibul Hassan aka Reagan, purportedly a member of Daesh [Islamic State], was arrested from the area with bullet injuries. However, Inspector General of Police A.K.M. Shahidul Haque, who visited the encounter site, stated, “The detained person claims to be an IS member, but we think they are of the banned militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).” On July 27, 2016, Police identified seven of the nine militants killed as Abdul Hakim Naym (33), Taj-ul-Haque Rashiq (25), Akifuzzaman Khan (24), Shazad Rouf (24), Motier Rahman (24), Abdullah (23) and Jobayer Hossain (20) after matching their fingerprints with those on their National Identification Cards. Most of them were from well to do families and were missing since January 2016. On July 28, 2016, the identity of the eight slain militant was established as Raihan Kabir aka Tarek, the Dhaka ‘region coordinator’ of JMB. He had reportedly trained the men who attacked the Holey Artisan café in Gulshan on July 2.

First published in SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW Weekly Assessments & Briefings Volume 15, No. 5, August 1, 2016

There is a visible increase in activity of militant outfits in South Asia – particularly India, Pakistan and Bangladesh – in their respective recruitment drives, especially using online communications. Previously, terrorist formations were using printed Jihadi literature, propaganda videos and face to face interactions with religious motivators to entice people to their cause. With the Internet boom and proliferation of online web-based communications, as well as the dramatic example of Daesh’s (Islamic State’s) cyber outreach, terrorist formations in the region are increasingly using the internet to communicate with youth and inspire them to embrace violent extremism.

First published in SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW Weekly Assessments & Briefings Volume 15, No. 5, August 1, 2016 

In our June 14, 2016 paper ,"Jabhat al-Nusra at Crossroads," abackgrounder for the Herzliya Conference Simulation: The Middle East after the Territorial Demise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, we evaluated that on the backdrop of the Russian involvement in Syria, the negotiations for a solution to the Syrian conflict, the threat of cooperation between Russia and the U.S against the group and the military blows that ISIS suffered in Syria and Iraq, Jabhat al-Nusra (JN - Al-Nusra Front) had to choose between three opposing options.

Written by Dr. Shaul Shay and Dr. Ely Karmon

At the end of July 2016, Al-Qaeda’s leadership expressed willingness, for the first time in its history, to sever ties with one of its branches, Al-Nusra Front in Syria. It claimed that unity among the ranks of the mujahideen in the arena of jihad in Syria, and the importance of successful efforts by jihadist factions to defeat the forces of heresy precede all organizational and factional considerations. The decision was made at the senior echelon after long negotiations were carried out between Al-Qaeda and Al-Nusra Front leaders while considering the costs and benefits if such a move. On the surface, it seems that Al-Qaeda lost power in the decision because of, among other reasons, its “loss” of control over Syrian territory. However, in was actually a strategic decision that is likely to serve both its long-term and short-term goals, and perhaps even contribute to a positive image of the organization in the eyes of jihad fighters; to depict it as an organization that is not bound by narrow and utilitarian interests, but rather as an organization with vision, understanding of, and responsibility for what is happening in the field.

The July wave of murderous jihadist attacks in France and Germany, for many of which Islamic State (IS) took responsibility, proves that Europe is not yet ready to challenge Islamist/jihadist terror.

First publish on on The Israel Public Diplomacy Forum website, August 2016

Al Qaeda and Daesh publish English language magazines to appeal to Western supporters and encourage them to join their cause as a fighter or as a lone wolf terrorist.  A key feature of Al Qaeda’s magazine, Inspire, is a section titled Open Source Jihad, which provides aspiring jihadists with step-by-step instructions to carry out lone terror attacks in the West.  By examining ten attack types that have been published over the past six years, this paper explains Open Source Jihad, presents cases where these types of attacks have been carried out, and assesses the threat presented by the easy access to Open Source Jihad.  

Criminologists are neither police nor magistrates. They must view criminals, no matter how violent they are, clinically. They must understand their functioning and analyze their activities. A criminologist must first establish a diagnosis to give an idea of the nature of the problem, then consider the means of curbing criminal activity, and finally engage in a therapeutic debate to determine what type of remedy it is better to prescribe—homeopathic (chamomile), chemical (pharmaceutical), or surgical (the route to the operating theater). In a normal medical system, these three steps are generally followed and the same should be true in criminology. 

How virulent contagions of political fanaticism spread across the globe—or, what the Muslim Brotherhood and its descendants share with The Little Red Book

This story originally appeared in Tablet magazine, at tabletmag.com

The ongoing immigration to Europe together with the related fear of terrorist attacks, has almost immediately turned into a hot topic for experts from social, economic and security fields becoming one of the highest priority for political decision makers and food for the media. Unfortunately, Europe immediately started to lose control over the situation. Often, decision-makers use the interpretation of the situation provided by the media, to meet the citizens’ demands. But at the same time, since the media want to sell their products, they use stories which appeal to their readership: if it is hungry for fear and blood, they will serve exactly what the readers want. Otherwise they will be replaced. Much like the politicians. As a result, individual countries lose their ability to keep distance from details and are not able to control the situation strategically.

It is an honour to address this distinguished audience on extremism and radicalization: a subject which for a very long time should have been considered of the highest ‎importance for our public opinions, political and cultural establishments, media and communication specialists. It was instead confined, until quite recently to the realm of  counterterrorism and social science.