Spotlight on social media as terrorists attack Israel
ISRAEL is desperately fighting to control social media networks within its borders as it seeks to prevent more attacks in what Prime Minister Naftali Bennett called “a new wave of terrorism”.
Three members of the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad were killed in a shootout with police yesterday, and more than 30 suspects have been arrested in connection with three seemingly unrelated terror attacks across the country which left 11 dead.
Government sources in Israel said the attacks were inspired by a sustained social media campaign on Tiktok and Telegram that was organised by Iran-funded Hamas. Tiktok’s Chinese owners have ignored Israeli requests to remove terror-related content from the social media site.
Israel remains a powder keg, with a heavy police and army presence on the streets, as it braces for more attacks in April, the holy month of Ramadan.
The first attack was carried out by an Israeli Arab who had planned to join the Islamic State group in Syria and had already served a jail sentence for security crimes.
He drove his car into a cyclist, killing him, then stabbed three people to death outside a shopping centre in the southern city of Beersheba.
Five days later, two Israeli Arabs opened fire at a bus stop in Hadera, killing two 19-year-old police officers. The assailants were shot dead, and IS later claimed responsibility.
In the third attack, on Tuesday, five people were shot dead by Palestinian gunman Diaa Hamarsheh in Bnei Brak, a suburb of Tel Aviv.
Chilling video showed how the terrorist, having shot two Ukrainian men sitting outside a grocery store, calmly opened fire on a passing motorist, killing him, before shooting a passer-by. Confronted by two armed police officers, he killed one before being shot and killed.
The attacks were timed to coincide with a regional summit in Israel’s Negev desert, where diplomats from the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, Egypt, Israel and the US were meeting to discuss security issues. Two weeks earlier, Tehran publicly vowed to avenge the killing of two soldiers serving with its elite Iranian Republican Guard Corps in Syria, for which it blamed Israel.
“Two weeks ago it became clear that Hamas wanted to set fire to the West Bank during Ramadan. This is perfect motivation for sleepers who have been radicalised,” said a security source.
“We are now facing a significant security challenge – a perfect storm which stoked tensions through social media and the holiday season.
“Any attack can lead to the next.a large amount of weapons is already on the ground. This means people have the capability of acting alone.
“All they need is inspiration. This is where social media, with extreme images and violent messages, has played and continues to play such an important role.”
A soon-to-be published report will lay blame for the social media campaign on an Iranian cyber group, which operates across the spectrum of Iranian proxy power in Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq.
‘The only thing attackers need is inspiration’