Israel Wants to Join the Coalition

Against the Islamic State

BY AMOS HAREL-SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

TELAVIV, Israel On Sept. 10, just before Israel's three TV

networks began broadcasting the evening news, Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu called an urgent security meeting. The meeting's purpose,
according to the premier's office, was to prepare for the possible danger
that the Islamic State (IS) would advance closer to the Israeli borde
In truth, as most of Israel's intelligence community has been quick to point
out, there are no signs that anything of the sort is actually happening. The
jihadist organization's fighters have not been spotted close to Israel's
border with Syria, while support for IS among Palestinians in the territories
and among Arab citizens of Israel is thought to be rather low. The
announcement, which predictably became the first item on the news for all

three networks that evening, served another purpose: It was designed to

prove that Israel is part of a broader U.S.-led coalition against Islamist
terrorism and to divert attention from economic worries toward security
threats -- probably the oldest trick in the Israeli political playbook, and one
that Netanyahu has used quite effectively in the past.
During the 50 days of Israel's latest military conflict with Hamas in Gaza,
Israeli TV devoted blanket coverage to almost every rocket launched, every
successful rocket interception by the Iron Dome system, and every soldier's
death in Gaza.As the war wound down, itseemed that IS stepped right into
the news vacuum -- the video documenting American journalist James
Foley's execution was published two days before the last Gaza ceasefire. Since then, hardly a day has passed without extensive coverage of the
jihadist group in the Israeli media: A series of special reports on Israel's
Channel 10 increased the station's ratings during the evening news edition
by nearly 50 percent.
The Islamic State's "snuff" films -- beheadings, prisoners being humiliated,
and long, frightening speeches by bearded terrorists -- resonate with Israeli
TV viewers, just as they did with Western crowds. Still, it seems that the
Israeli media's response borders on an obsession with horrors, and
interprets them through the country's own experience with Islamist
extremism. Channel 10 runs a weekly feature that includes interviews with
a group of 7-year-olds regarding current events. One of the questions
discussed last Friday: Which is worse, the Islamic State or Hamas? The kids
held a short but comprehensive discussion about the differences between
death by beheadings, guns, and rockets.

There shouldn't be, of course, any reason to underestimate the potential

threats of IS to the region at large. But the immediate danger for Israel does
not seem to be significant. Most of the organization's presence in Syria is
currently centered in the country's northeast, the farthest area from the
Israeli border. Other jihadist groups pose a more immediate threat: IS's
advances have pushed other rebel groups, such as the al Qaeda-affiliate alNusra Front, toward the Israeli border. And Sinai-based jihadists have
encroached on Israel's border with Egypt, but they're mostly yesterday's
news. Today, the bogeyman du jour is the Islamic State. Israeli security
agencies are now apparently worried that a few dozen Israeli Arab citizens
might have traveled to Syria to help the rebels, but it remains to be seen
whether more than a couple actually joined IS.

Despite the growing concern, it should not come as a surprise that the
Netanyahu government has not yet taken any immediate steps against IS.
The government has only announced that the organization would be
considered illegal in Israel and the Palestinian territories, and decided to
focus intelligence-gathering on the group's activities in Syria and Lebanon.

But while IS might not present an imminent threat at home, Netanyahu has
been extremely eager to aid the Arab world in the battle against the group.
Last week, the prime minister confirmed media reports that Israel was
supplying intelligence to the new anti-IS international coalition. Jerusalem
no doubt has useful information to contribute: For decades, it focused on
acquiring first-rate intelligence about events in Syria, which it considered its
toughest enemy.

President Barack Obama thus may face a problem similar to the one George
H. W. Bush encountered before the 1991 Gulf War: Israeli participation risks

alienating critical members of the coalition, such as the Saudis (and in this
case, in a limited way, perhaps even Iran). For that reason, the United
States may seek to keep Israel's participation as low profile as possible.
The benefits Netanyahu receives by securing himself a place in Obama's
new coalition are equally clear: He is looking to position Israel at the
vanguard of the Western fight against terrorism, not as some archaic relic of
colonialist occupation, as Israel is sometimes described in European
circles.The prime minister regularly emphasizes thesimilarities between IS
and Hamas, portraying bothorganizations as part of the same continuum of
Islamist extremism. Hamas played into his hands by panicking and publicly
executing -- albeit by a simple shot to the head and not by beheading -about 20 Gaza residents it accused of being Israeli collaborators. The
images from Gaza and Syria, shown within 48 hours of each other, looked
strikingly similar; you could hardly separate one hooded executioner from
the other.
At the same time, Netanyahu finds it useful to encourage an Israeli political
debate regarding the possible threats in the region. The prime minister
wants "billions more" shekels for defense, locking him in a feud with
Finance Minister Yair Lapid, who wants to curtail the Israel Defense Forces'
financial expectations in order to avoid tax increases. If security threats are
seen as Israel's paramount concern, then Israelis would likely still consider
Netanyahu the right leader to deal with the situation -- and he could
continue focusing on defense, while blocking demands for major economic
changes.
The Islamic State, then, is essentially the proof of Netanyahu's argument
that danger is lurking everywhere for Israel. After all, who would have
guessed that an organization so large and brutal would appear out of
nowhere within such a short time? Netanyahu is convinced that this could

happen again -- and that, a bit like the case of Monty Python'sSpanish
Inquisition, nobody expects the Islamic State.
EPA/ARIEL SCHALIT / POOL
Posted by Thavam