Failure to Connect the Dots, 50 Years Later: “Yom Kippur War” (1973) Versus “October 7”
This article examines the striking parallels between two of Israel’s greatest intelligence failures, the 1973 Yom Kippur War and the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023. Dr. Galit M. Ben-Israel analyzes how similar conceptual biases and systemic blind spots led to catastrophic surprises, despite the vast advances in intelligence and technology across fifty years. […]
Digital Hunting: How I Tracked ISIS on TikTok
As information professionals, we know: the most valuable insights are often hidden beneath the surface. I uncovered hidden digital trails of young women recruited by ISIS – not through direct keywords like #ISIS or #Jihad, but through subtle, “innocent” hashtags and cultural codes. My journey spies after ISIS’ recruiting and manipulating young women mainly in […]
Florentin, Tel Aviv: When Walls Tell Stories Living Research in Times of Crisis
About the research My current research takes place in my own neighborhood – Florentin, one of the world’s most iconic hipster districts and home to Tel Aviv’s vibrant young creative community. Famous for its stunning street art and graffiti that transforms every building into a canvas, Florentin has always been where the pulse of Israeli […]
Visual Radicalization: ISIS Strategies for Female Recruitment on TikTok
ISIS on TikTok: Visual Hooks, Dangerous Lures Abstract. This presentation examines ISIS’s evolving recruitment strategies targeting young women through visual content on TikTok. The research analyzes how ISIS exploits the platform’s visual-centric interface to craft compelling narratives that resonate with female audiences, particularly teenagers and young adults. By deconstructing ISIS’s visual techniques—such as aesthetic choices, […]
Visual Radicalization: ISIS Strategies for Female Recruitment on TikTok
THE NAME OF THE BOOK: The Role of Intelligence in Countering Violent Extremism THE NAME OF THE CHAPTER: Failure to Connect the Dots, 50 Years Later: “Yom Kippur War” (1973) Versus “October 7” Dr. Galit M. Ben-Israel[1] Beit-Berl Academic College, Israel Ben-Israel, G. (2024). Failure to Connect the Dots, 50 Years Later: Yom Kippur War […]
A Brave New World”: A World Where Big Wars and Asymmetric Warfare Coexist”
Abstract. The old order has been broken due to postmodern historical events. After the great wars (Imperial and national wars), we believed the war era had ended. Around the turn of the millennium, a new era of “small wars”/asymmetric warfare began. Non-state armed groups against state armies like Hezbollah in Lebanon, ISIS in the Middle […]
Religious Internet Networks and Mobilization to Terror
Abstract: The current research is part of a broader investigation into Diaspora Internet communities’ political involvement patterns. The study has compared the Internet content of three religious groups (Muslim, Jewish, and Sikh) with an attempt to reveal specific cultural and religious codes that bring the potential terrorists to use the Internet as a tool for […]
The Impact of Web 2.0 on Public Engagement in the Israeli Home Front
ABSTRACT: The research deals with citizen engagement and public participation in crisis in the Israeli home front, in the era of Web 2.0. Since 2004, Web 2.0 has characterized changes that allow users to interact and collaborate with each other in a social media dialogue as creators of user-generated content in social networking sites: […]
Developing discourse and tools for alternative content to prevent terror
INTRODUCTION. The inclination of certain parts of the Muslim European population towards devastating terror rhetoric propagated by Al-Qaeda and ISIS and its affiliates requires a close look as to the origins of the inclination and the ways this rhetoric can be dismissed or at least put into contest with more balanced explanations of the reality. […]
Learning Terror trigger textual devices on religious Internet sites
Abstract: The presented paper is a part of a broader research on patterns of political involvement of religious Internet communities. The research proposes that special textual devices, like keywords, semiotic phrases, icons, etc., are activating the first trigger that draws the attention of potential volunteers to take an active act in terror groups. Keywords: terror […]