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2018-09-30 Israel-Palestine-Jordan
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Gilad Erdan: Israel Is Making Progress Against Terrorism And BDS
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| Long. You’ll want a cup of coffee or your favourite equivalent to accompany this one, dear Reader, which is why we saved it for Sunday. |
[Jpost] Erdan is responsible for the fight against BDS in the Strategic Affairs Ministry, and the steps he has taken in that battle are controversial and unconventional.
The tragic murder of Ari Fuld on September 16 highlighted the two difficult jobs that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s No. 2 in Likud, Public Security and Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan, took upon himself when the government was formed.
In the first ministry, Erdan is in charge of police and will soon be selecting a new chief to continue efforts against the so-called "lone-wolf terrorists," like the 17-year-old who murdered Fuld. That stabbing took place in Gush Etzion, where the police don’t have jurisdiction, but most lone-wolf attacks have been in Jerusalem, which has been the focus of Erdan’s new strategy in fighting terrorism.
Continued from Page 4
Erdan’s interview with The Jerusalem Post took place before the 45-year-old’s murder but he made a point of sending another quote following the attack to put his efforts against lone wolf terror in perspective.
"As a result of the ground-breaking measures that I initiated, we have seen a dramatic decrease in the level of terror in the areas under the responsibility of the Israel Police, and particularly in Jerusalem," he said. "Unfortunately, as long as the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
 ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
and the Paleostinian Authority he heads continue to spread violent incitement and pay salaries to terrorists, there will be Paleostinians who will be drawn to terror. The recent cold-blooded murder of Ari Fuld, a true hero of Israel and the Jewish people, is a tragic testimony to that fact. I am implementing far-reaching measures to deter holy warriors and counter incitement, including removing all perks enjoyed by incarcerated holy warriors beyond the bare minimum required by law."
Since the wave of lone-wolf terrorism began in September 2015, there were 155 terrorist attacks in 2015, 170 in 2016, 90 in 2017 and just 35 so far this year.
While Fuld’s life ended at the hands of a terrorist, whom he shot after the stabbing, his usual battleground was in the field of Israeli public diplomacy. Following Fuld’s murder, Erdan tweeted that the victim was part of a team the minister formed to spread the truth about Israel online and reveal the lies of the campaign to boycott, divest and sanction the Jewish state.
Erdan is responsible for the fight against BDS in the Strategic Affairs Ministry. The steps he has taken in that battle are controversial and unconventional. He points to successes in that struggle as well, while acknowledging that there is still a long way to go to minimize the damage the campaign does to Israel.
The cabinet formally decided to fight BDS and allocate a hefty budget to that fight three years ago, around the same time the lone-wolf attacks began. And while Erdan is careful not to compare BDS activists to terrorists, he sees both as enemies of Israel, who must be targeted strategically, with the proper preparation and technology.
Erdan reveals those strategies and talks about his own political future in the interview, which took place at his ministry in Jerusalem, located above the Prime Minister’s Office, where he hopes to serve one day.
| Key bits of the interview: |
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, you recently announced that you will soon be appointing a replacement for Roni Alsheich. What are the most important tasks of the next police chief?
My focus is on the security of Jerusalem and bringing down violent crime in the Arab sector. Whenever a wave of terrorism starts, it starts in Jerusalem and it is connected to the Old City and the Temple Mount; then it leads to terrorist attacks in Judea and Samaria and other places. That is what happened with the wave of terrorism that started exactly three years ago. We made many changes but still have a lot to do.
For instance?
I dramatically increased the police presence in the eastern part of Jerusalem but not enough to make up for 50 years of government services not being there, including police. People there don’t feel like they have an Israeli identity, but they are Israeli citizens. They haven’t received regular government services, including law enforcement ‐ the police weren’t there. We have to rebuild the trust so they believe the police are committed to giving them a sense of security. If a woman felt threatened in the eastern part of Jerusalem, she couldn’t feel she would get the same services as she would get in Ra’anana. We want her to feel she has a sense of security. At the same time, those inciting terrorism, acting violently and throwing stones need to feel the police are there and they can be caught. This trend needs to be continued.
Three years ago a wave of lone-wolf terror attacks began. Despite the tragic murder of Ari Fuld, the number of lone-wolf attacks has fallen dramatically. What steps did you take to make that happen?
We took a combination of a few steps. We did it in cooperation with the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency). A big part of fighting lone-wolf terrorism is determining who will be the next lone-wolf terrorist. We increased our monitoring on social media to get the algorithm to find the terrorist writing his friends that he will see them in heaven.
I made news a few years ago when I said Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has blood on his hands. But now more of the world understands. The EU demands Facebook to remove in one hour any post that is determined as encouraging terror. There are keywords that give hints something is about to happen.
You have a team that is monitoring the Facebook of Arabs?
It’s a team with the Shin Bet and Justice Ministry that works together with the Internet companies to find them and stop them from doing what they want to do. We also cracked down on the organizations that encouraged violence; we outlawed the Morbitat, who would incite women on the Temple Mount, and Sheikh Raed Salah’s Northern Islamic Movement.
My policy was to move from defense to offense. There were villages that thought they had immunity. They know it’s not true anymore. It started with deploying 700 police at night. We don’t wait for them to attack. We go to their villages and find them before they attack.
We also dramatically upgraded police use of technological solutions. Not just monitoring the Net, but using smart cameras in sensitive areas, like Damascus Gate, where there have been 32 attacks in two and a half years. We dramatically changed infrastructure there. We installed smart cameras that are connected to databases, facial recognition cameras, license plate readers. Now we are doing the same in other cities and trying to implement it throughout Israel.
We did a joint research study with the Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) and interviewed lone-wolf holy warriors who survived to ask about their motivation. We found that most of the time they had made posts online that indicated their intentions to carry out attacks. We have stopped 200 attacks by online monitoring.
Moving on to your other ministry, the Strategic Affairs Ministry, which leads the fight against the movement to boycott, divest and sanction Israel, it has been three years since the cabinet decision to start fighting BDS: Have we won?
Like terrorism, BDS isn’t something you can win against. But you can minimize the damages. There are two billion Moslems criticizing and attacking Israel, and every few years they change the way they attack Israel, so we have to prepare, just like with the fight against terrorism.
I was appointed to try to build a better Iron Dome, infrastructure to protect Israel from BDS attacks. The week after I got the authority over the fight against BDS, the British National Union of Students decided to boycott Israel, Orange [cellphone company] decided to leave Israel, and FIFA was about to kick Israel out. When people asked me what I got myself into, I said this is the reality, and we have to change it. Three years after, the situation is very different. We have a professional department that is cooperating with pro-Israel organizations and campuses, and getting pro-Israel legislation passed.
I can show decisions, quotes of world leaders, legislation in 25 states punishing those who boycott Israel. Today the BDS organizations are fighting for their right to do BDS. In many countries it’s so limited. We are cooperating with closing their bank accounts. But it doesn’t mean there won’t be pressure on an artist or a soccer team that will prefer to give up their visit to Israel. 
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Posted by trailing wife 2018-09-30 00:00||
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