Israel’s intelligence community has helped thwart dozens of terror attacks around the globe planned by Islamic State and al-Qaida by sharing intelligence with other countries.
The defense establishment marks the November 2015 IS attacks in Paris that killed 130 people as the day the intelligence community changed its perspective as more global and tightened their coordination with international bodies.
Three years after the Islamic State blitzkrieged through the Middle East — at its peak controlling nearly half of Syria and large parts of Iraq — the group is reported to have lost of 85% of territory in Syria, including almost all of its de-facto capital of Raqqa, and has been largely dispersed across the deserts of Iraq.
The intelligence branch also changed its focus to collecting more information about the activities of jihadists who are not in the Middle East.
As the group’s territorial “caliphate” collapses, the group’s ideology remains popular among a large number of disenfranchised youths across the globe. The jihadist’s expertise in online propaganda allows it to continue to operate as a “virtual caliphate,” urging their supporters to carry out attacks in their home countries.
With shared threats in the Middle East, cooperation between the intelligence communities of Israel and western countries, such as United States, intensified since the early 2000s, despite Israel not being a part of the “Five Eyes” – a term used for the core countries involved in surveillance sharing with Washington. Those countries are Britain, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.
In May, The New York Times reported that Israel was the source of the classified intelligence US President Donald Trump disclosed to Russian officials about a planned Islamic State operation.
The terrorists intended to blow up passenger planes flying to Europe using explosive devices hidden in laptop computers.
Since that incident, Israel has changed its intelligence-sharing apparatus, despite the intelligence cooperation between Jerusalem and Washington having been “unprecedented,” Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said.
Trump defended having shared “facts” with senior Russian officials, taking to Twitter to say he had an “absolute right” to do so and that he was trying to get Moscow to be more active in combating Islamic State militants.
“As President I wanted to share with Russia (at an openly scheduled W.H. meeting) which I have the absolute right to do, facts pertaining to terrorism and airline flight safety,” he posted on Twitter. “Humanitarian reasons, plus I want Russia to greatly step up their fight against ISIS terrorism.”
In January, Yedioth Ahronoth reported that US officials had warned their Israeli counterparts to be cautious in sharing classified intelligence with the Trump administration, concerned it could be leaked to Russia and to Iran. According to the report in Yedioth, Israeli intelligence officials were concerned that the most sensitive methods of the Mossad could be shared with their long-time foe, harming Israel’s national security.
Article source: http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/China-No-radioactive-material-detected-at-border-after-North-Korea-test-504158
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