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Israel Struggles to Combat Homegrown Islamic State Threat
[USA Today] JALJULIA, Israel -- Israeli authorities are increasing security measures in Arab communities as a growing number of Muslims are signing up to fight for the Islamic State across Israel's northern border with Syria.The Shin Bet, Israel's security agency, estimates that 50 Israeli Arabs have joined the civil war in Syria or are fighting in Iraq, and more may do so soon. The worry, as in Western countries, is that these fighters with the Islamic State, also known as ISIL or ISIS, will return home to commit terrorist acts. "ISIS recruits from Israel were not regarded as a problem a year ago, but the security establishment sees them as a concerning trend," said Boaz Ganor, director of the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel. Last year, Israel officially outlawed the Islamic State, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he will revoke the citizenship of anyone planning to join the organization. Ganor said the extremist group challenges Israel's efforts to track and deter potential recruits because its counterterrorism efforts have focused on the West Bank and Gaza rather than the homeland. Most of the more than 1.5 million Arab citizens of Israel hold Israeli passports that allow them to travel throughout Israel and to countries such as Turkey, where Islamic State recruits have passed through to reach Syria. Note the slightly modified title line from the Breitbart posting of the USA Today piece. Posted by: Besoeker 2016-01-13 |
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