The Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) has issued a warning that some Israeli Arab students traveling abroad are returning with new knowledge acquired outside the classrooms.
Operatives from the Da’esh (ISIS) terror organization have been recruiting Israeli Arabs while they are attending foreign universities in countries such as Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
According to a report broadcast Tuesday night on Hebrew-language Channel One TV, Israeli Arabs are using their knowledge of Israeli society to teach ISIS about Israelis. ISIS, meanwhile, is teaching the Israeli Arabs how to use weapons and attack Israel.
The video clip of the report below is in Hebrew but is provided for readers who understand the language due to its importance.
Palestinian Arab youth from Judea and Samaria are also able to make contact with these operatives in universities abroad, which they access easily by simply crossing into Jordan.
Most Israeli Arab youth do not appear as a security threat upon leaving Israel, and are not on the “watch” list.
However, upon graduation from their studies – and their terror training – they are instructed to return to Israel, where they translate their learning into terrorist operations.
The Shin Bet warns, therefore, that in its view, ISIS is already operating in Israel.
But this is not as new as it sounds. There have been in fact a number of reports over the past year attesting to this unpalatable fact.
An ISIS cell – marked by group of teachers who were disseminating ISIS ideology – was discovered in the Negev Bedouin town of Hura just a few months ago.
Several cases of Israeli Arabs disappearing from their homes and suddenly reappearing in Turkey, where they were found to be heading for the border with Syria, towards an ISIS stronghold, were also reported.
An ISIS sign was seen on a building in the Arab city of Umm al-Fahm in northern Israel this summer.
An Israeli Arab who worked for the government’s Health Ministry at a well-known hospital was convicted this month of having become a bona fide member of ISIS.
Two young Israeli Arabs were caught and convicted of having traveled to Turkey in an attempt to join Da’esh (ISIS) as well. Those two, ages 19 and 21, didn’t make it: they were turned back in time and deported by the Turkish police.
Other reports of Israeli Arabs who had already made it all the way to Da’esh and were in contact with their Israeli Arab friends “back home,” actively recruiting them to join the group, have also been in the news.
In addition, there have been numerous reports of ISIS-linked Salafi Muslim terrorist groups in Gaza, including at least one that continues to fire rockets at Israel from time to time.
ISIS is, indeed, already in Israel and on its borders.