Israel Helped 30 Countries Foil Terror Attacks in 2017, Says Economy Minister

Israel Helped 30 Countries Foil Terror Attacks in 2017, Says Economy Minister

Israeli Economic Minister Eli Cohen said in a speech aired on country’s Army Radio on Monday that the country warned 30 countries on specific terror threats in 2017. Minister Cohen’s revelation comes almost a week after Australian authorities acknowledged the role of Israeli intelligence in averting an ISIS terror plot to bring down an airliner last year. Israeli military’s intelligence branch, known as “Unit 8200,” told the Australian authorities about a hidden explosive device destined for an Etihad Airways flight leaving Sydney for Abu Dhabi last July.

Earlier this month, the German weekly Der Spiegel reported on Israel’s role in helping Germany and European countries in combating Islamist terror. It revealed that Israel is part of a covert multinational counter-terrorism operation named “Gallant Phoenix” that gathers intelligence on Islamic State war criminals returning from the Middle East to Europe.

Germany, France, and Sweden continue to bash Israeli security forces and agencies for defending their citizens against acts of terrorism, but they themselves have no qualms about using Israeli intelligence to avert terrorism on their soil.

After almost seven decades of relentless Arab and Islamist terror campaigns against the Jewish State, Israel has developed crucial anti-terror combat and technological skills at a time when Islamist jihad is increasingly turning into a global threat. Israeli TV network i24News reported Minister Eli Cohen’s latest comments:

Economy Minister Eli Cohen on Sunday said that Israel warned 30 countries worldwide about separate terror plots over the course of 2017, in a claim that suggests the wide-ranging significance of Israel’s intelligence agencies internationally.

“You all heard last week that Australia got a phone call from the state of Israel [with a specific warning that terrorists] intend to blow up a plane,” the Kulanu [centrist political party] lawmaker said.

“Actually, 30 countries got phone calls from Israel in 2017, in which the State of Israel called them, and said to them: You need to know, this and that [are being planned], in this and that place, pay attention, there’s going to be an attack,” he added, in a recording of a speech he made at a Tel Aviv University law conference, aired by Army Radio on Monday morning.

With thousands of so-called “foreign fighters” heading home in the wake of the Islamic caliphate’s impending collapse in Syria and Iraq, Europeans will now need Israeli intelligence and expertise more than ever. These battle-hardened war criminals could act as the catalysts for a new phase of deadly jihad in Europe—recruiting and directing ten of thousands of home-grown jihadis.

European countries have witnessed a record high of Islamists on their terror watch lists. Intelligence agencies estimate the number of Islamists living in the UK to be around 35,000. In Germany, more than 10,000 Islamists are under the scanner of the domestic spy agency BfV. In France, authorities are trying to keep tabs on more than 18,000 potential terrorists. Unregulated mass migration from jihad-infested Arab and Muslim countries into Europe is expected to drive these numbers even higher.

Israeli support for international counter-terrorism efforts is not limited to Western countries alone. Israel Defense Forces’ elite units have been training Indian Special Forces engaged in anti-terror operations against jihadi groups. Indian law enforcement officers are also being trained by instructors at Israel’s National Police Academy. Japan has requested Israel’s anti-terror expertise, both in combating conventional threats and in the field of cyber security, ahead of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

While the ruling political class in the West refuses to even acknowledge the growing threat of Islamism in their midst, Israel—with its limited strategic depth and military manpower—can’t afford that privilege. While the UK, France, and Germany hope to “re-integrate” the returning ISIS war criminals and “de-radicalize” their domestic jihadis by offering them financial and other incentives, the tiny state of Israel fights not only its own battle, but emerges as the defender the Free World against the global Islamist onslaught.

[Cover image via Youtube]

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