Could ISIS and extremists targeting Israel open up new front? - analysis

In the wake of a terror attack in Hadera, ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack. However claims like this require more confirmation because ISIS or ISIS-affiliated networks often take responsibility for attacks that they had no role in, or that they merely inspired. 

Nevertheless, the important issue here is that the attack in Hadera, and the one last week in Beersheba, appear linked to a local radicalization of Arab citizens within Israel.

This is not an entirely new phenomenon. There have been a handful of Arabs from Israel who journeyed to join ISIS after 2014. Some were arrested in 2015 and 2016. Others were arrested in 2017. 

The lack of ISIS recruits from Israel was often a source of discussion over the years, because while hundreds or thousands joined ISIS from neighboring states, the number of ISIS recruits inside Israel’s Green Line, or even in the West Bank and Gaza, was relatively slim. 

In Jerusalem, for instance, the presence of other Islamic-oriented groups, such as Hizb ut-Tahrir, likely gave locals a ready-made place to exercise their faith rather than see inspiration in groups like ISIS. There also exists an Islamic tradition in Israel in groups like the Northern and Southern branches of the Islamic movement. Israel outlawed the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in 2015. READ MORE