Country Report on Terrorism 2018 - Chapter 1 - Israel, West Bank and Gaza

Israel

Overview:  Israel was a committed counterterrorism partner in 2018, closely coordinating with the United States on a range of counterterrorism initiatives.  Israel and the United States held numerous interagency counterterrorism dialogues to discuss the broad range of threats in the Middle East and determine areas of collaboration to address these challenges.

Israel faced threats on its northern border from Hizballah and along the northeastern frontier from Hizballah and other Iran-backed groups in Syria.  Israeli security officials and politicians expressed concerns that Iran was supplying Hizballah with advanced weapons systems and technologies, as well as assisting the group in creating infrastructure that would permit it to indigenously produce rockets and missiles to threaten Israel from Lebanon and Syria.  In December, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) commenced Operation Northern Shield, exposing and neutralizing a series of Hizballah-constructed tunnels extending from Lebanon into Israel.

Along its southern border with Egypt and Gaza, Israel faced threats from terrorist organizations including Hamas, Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and ISIS-Sinai Province.  Hamas and PIJ tunneling activities continued, as did Hamas-coordinated demonstrations and low-level violence along the Gaza security fence.  Rocket attacks originating from Gaza resulted in one civilian fatality and numerous injuries in 2018.

2018 Terrorist Incidents:  Israel experienced numerous terrorist attacks in 2018 involving weapons ranging from rockets and mortars to small arms and knives.  The following is a partial list of terrorist incidents that occurred in 2018:

  • On March 18, Abd al-Rahman Bani Fadel, a 28-year-old Palestinian man and West Bank resident, stabbed Israeli citizen Adiel Kolman in Jerusalem’s Old City.  A nearby police officer intervened in the attack and killed Bani Fadel.  Kolman sustained multiple stab wounds and later died from them.
  • Since late March, Hamas coordinated weekly “March of Return” protests along the Gaza security fence, some of which drew tens of thousands of people. Armed terrorists breached the security fence, launched incendiary devices into Israel, and threw stones and other objects at IDF soldiers. Additionally, sniper attacks injured IDF forces and resulted in the death of at least one IDF soldier.  Since April, militants sent hundreds of incendiary devices into southern Israel by kite and balloon, resulting in more than 7,000 acres burned, including a forest preserve and numerous farmed fields, causing more than US $2 million in damages.
  • Since the end of May, Hamas and other terrorist groups have initiated four major exchanges of rocket and mortar fire from Gaza toward Israel, launching more than 750 rockets and mortar shells from Gaza toward Israel.  The IDF confirmed that the Iron Dome, Israel’s air defense system, intercepted more than 100 of these projectiles. Several others landed in civilian residential areas; one was a direct hit on a home in the city of Ashkelon, resulting in one civilian fatality. During November 12-13, more than 400 rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel, the highest number in a 24-hour-period since Operation Protective Edge (2014), forcing schools to close and civilians to take shelter in affected areas.

Legislation, Law Enforcement, and Border Security:  Israel has a robust legal framework to combat terrorism within its borders and to promote international legal assistance in the investigation and prosecution of terrorists.

On March 7, the Knesset passed an amendment to the 2016 Combating Terrorism Law that authorized the police to issue restrictions on the release of bodies of terrorists who died in the course of perpetrating or attempting to perpetrate terrorist acts.  The amendment also provided police with the authority to impose restrictions on the processing of terrorists’ funerals.

On April 30, the Knesset passed an amendment to the Basic Law that restricts the right of an individual convicted of a serious terrorism or security offense to serve as a Knesset member.

Israeli security forces took numerous significant law enforcement actions against suspected terrorists and terrorist groups.  The following examples represent a fraction of the law enforcement actions taken in 2018:

  • In April, Israel Security Agency (ISA) officials, in coordination with the Israel National Police (INP) and the IDF, arrested 20 Hamas members from Nablus who planned terrorist attacks across Israel and the West Bank.  The cell’s reported leaders were 35-year-old Mu’tazem Muhammad Salem and 33-year-old Faras Kamel Zavidi, both Palestinian residents of Nablus.  During the ISA’s investigation, it uncovered several explosive devices allegedly for use in planned attacks in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
  • On October 8, the Jerusalem District Court sentenced Darham Jabarin, an Israeli citizen and resident of Umm al-Fahm, to 42 months’ imprisonment for having contacts with a foreign agent and providing support to Hamas.

Countering the Financing of Terrorism:  In December, Israel became a full member of the FATF, and the body adopted Israel’s Mutual Evaluation Report completed jointly by the FATF and MONEYVAL, a FATF-style regional body.  Israel’s FIU, the Israeli Money Laundering and Terror Finance Prohibition Authority, is a member of the Egmont Group.

On February 12, the Knesset passed an amendment to the 2016 Combating Terrorism Law that transferred terrorism designation authority from the Ministers’ Committee for Security to the Minister of Defense to ensure that Israel enforced UN sanctions on foreign terrorist organizations and individuals until it could complete a domestic review process of the designation.

Countering Violent Extremism: The Ministry of Public Security supported and funded Israel’s flagship CVE initiative, City Without Violence. One hundred fifty-one municipalities’ implemented education and social welfare projects to counter violence, crime, and terrorism. The program emphasized partnerships with the INP, with the goal of reducing violence and increasing citizen-police communication.

The President of Israel’s initiative, Israeli Hope, in cooperation with government ministries, established a sustainable partnership across different segments of Israeli society, focusing on projects ranging from education to employment to sports.  The sports initiative, with the cooperation of the Ministry of Culture and Sports, implemented programs aimed at countering racism and reducing violence in collaboration with professional soccer clubs and players.  The Ministry of Education headed another initiative, which encouraged schools to promote shared citizenship educational programs.

Former IDF Chief of the General Staff Lieutenant General Gadi Eizenkot attended the last two International Counter-Violent Extremist Organizations conferences hosted by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington.

International and Regional Cooperation:  There were no changes in 2018.

The West Bank and Gaza

Overview: The Palestinian Authority (PA) continued its counterterrorism and law enforcement efforts in the West Bank, where Hamas, PIJ, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine remained present, though the PA also continued to provide payments to convicted terrorists and the families of deceased terrorists.  The PA Security Forces (PASF) constrained the ability of those organizations to conduct attacks, including through arrests of Hamas members planning attacks against Israelis.  Per Oslo-era agreements, the PA exercised varying degrees of authority over the West Bank. The IDF and ISA arrested members of terrorist organizations operating in the West Bank.

In 2018, the United States assisted the PA’s law enforcement efforts, which contributed to counterterrorism capacity building by providing training, equipment, and infrastructure support to the PASF.  U.S. training and support assisted in the PA’s continuing work to sustain and further develop professional, self-sufficient, and capable security forces.  The United States also assisted the PA with criminal justice investigations and prosecutions of terrorist financing and terrorist-related activity.

Palestinians committed acts of violence and terrorism in the West Bank in 2018.  The number of Palestinian terrorist attacks against Israelis in the West Bank was lower compared with the heightened period of violence from October 2015 to April 2016; however, Palestinians continued to commit stabbings, shootings, and vehicular attacks against Israelis.

Israelis, including settlers, committed acts of violence, including “price tag” attacks (property crimes and violent acts against Palestinians) in the West Bank.  These incidents increased in number in 2018 over the previous year, though there were no reported fatalities.

Hamas maintained security control of Gaza.  Several militant groups launched rocket attacks against Israel, threw Molotov cocktails, planted IEDs, and launched incendiary kites and devices toward Israel during demonstrations along the Israel-Gaza security fence.  The primary limitation on PA counterterrorism efforts in Gaza remained Hamas’ control of the area and the resulting inability of the PASF to operate there.

The PA and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) continued to provide “martyr payments” to the families of Palestinian individuals killed carrying out a terrorist act.  The PA and PLO also provided payments to Palestinians in Israeli prisons, including those convicted of acts of terrorism against Israelis.  The amounts of the payments increased in relation to the length of the military court sentence.  These payments (as well as separate canteen stipends that the Israeli government allows for prisoners) were first initiated by the PLO in 1965 and have continued under the PA since the Oslo Accords with Israel.  Israeli government officials criticized this practice as incentivizing acts of terror. In 2018, the Knesset adopted a new Israeli law expected to be implemented in 2019, which mandates withholding from PA custom clearance revenues an amount equivalent to PA prisoner and martyr payments, based on Israeli calculations.

2018 Terrorist Incidents:

  • In January, Palestinian assailants killed an Israeli civilian in the northern West Bank in a drive-by shooting.
  • In March, a Palestinian man rammed a vehicle into a group of Israeli soldiers in the northern West Bank, killing two Israeli soldiers and wounding two others.
  • In July, a Palestinian man infiltrated an Israeli settlement northeast of Jerusalem and stabbed three Israeli civilians, killing one and wounding two others.
  • In September, a Palestinian man fatally stabbed an American-Israeli resident of the Efrat settlement outside a shopping center near the Gush Etzion junction in the West Bank.
  • In December, Palestinian assailants opened fire at a bus stop in the northern West Bank, killing one individual and injuring seven others.  That same week, a Palestinian assailant shot and killed two IDF soldiers in a drive-by shooting near a traffic junction in the central West Bank.

Legislation, Law Enforcement, and Border Security: The West Bank and Gaza made no significant changes to their counterterrorism legal framework in 2018. The Palestinian Legislative Council has not met since 2007 and dissolved in December 2018.

The Preventive Security Organization is the key PA institution that works to prevent West Bank terrorist attacks and investigates security-related criminal conduct.  In practice, the General Intelligence Organization also plays a critical role in this effort as does, to a lesser extent, the Military Intelligence Organization.  The United States helped enhance cooperation between security service investigators and public prosecutors.

The Palestinian Civil Police’s (PCP’s) forensic laboratory continued to improve its operations in 2018.  The laboratory conducted basic manual analyses and examinations of firearm evidence, documentary evidence, and drug and chemical analysis.  With U.S. support, the PCP forensic laboratory is seeking international standards certification.

Per Oslo-era agreements, Israel controlled border security in the West Bank.

Countering the Financing of Terrorism: The PA is a member of the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF). The Palestinian Financial Follow-Up Unit is the PA’s FIU.

In 2018, the PA completed its first-ever National Risk Assessment to identify vulnerabilities to terrorist financing and money laundering within the PA government, banking, and commercial sectors.  The PA is currently drafting a strategy to counter these vulnerabilities in advance of its FATF evaluation. The PA is also drafting its first prosecutors’ manual on policy and procedures to investigate and prosecute terrorist financing and money laundering cases.

The Palestinian Monetary Authority increased regulations and restrictions on the more than 300 money changers in the West Bank.  Hamas licensed and regulated money changers in Gaza.  According to business contacts in Gaza, Hamas does not impose reporting requirements on Gaza-based money changers.

Countering Violent Extremism: The PA’s Palestinian Broadcasting Company’s code of conduct states that it does not allow programming that encourages “violence against any person or institution on the basis of race, religion, political beliefs, or sex.”  Some official PA media channels, as well as social media accounts affiliated with the ruling political movement Fatah, have featured content praising or condoning acts of violence.  Palestinian leaders did not always publicly condemn individual terrorist attacks or speak out publicly against members of their institutions who advocated for violence.  However, PA President Mahmoud Abbas maintained a public commitment to non-violence.

The PA maintained control over the content of Friday sermons delivered in about 1,800 West Bank mosques to ensure they do not endorse incitement to violence.  The PA Minister of Awqaf and Religious Affairs distributed approved themes weekly and prohibited incitement to violence.

International and Regional Cooperation: The PA is an active member of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.  The “State of Palestine” acceded to INTERPOL in 2017.