The Mossad, Israel's espionage agency, has recently increased its involvement in tracking down and monitoring outbreaks of violence against Jews in different parts of the world, and has termed the threat from “extremist Islamic groups a world Jihad," Haaretz daily reported.
To this end, it has beefed up cooperation and exchanges of information with the relevant authorities in the various countries where there have been widespread incidents of violence against Jews.
This emerged from a public lecture given Wednesday by the head of the Mossad's research department on anti-Semitism, called "Yossi," in the framework of the Jewish Agency's Forum for Zionist Thinking. The lecture was due to have been delivered by the deputy head of the Mossad but he was unable to attend.
About a month ago, the Mossad changed its perception of the threats and dangers faced by the Jewish communities abroad. The change of outlook was triggered by the attack on the synagogue in Djerba, Tunisia, in which 16 people were killed, the official explained. The attack, by a suicide bomber, was carried out by an organization affiliated with Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda network.
According to the Israeli media, the official said that information and testimony gathered from terrorists detained in Europe have revealed that they planned to attack other Jewish institutions and communities as well. "The most terrifying threat today on the Jews of the world comes from this 'world Jihad,'" he said. "A comparative study carried out in the Mossad revealed that France is the country where the greatest number of violent anti-Jewish incidents took place... In the past month, there were 71 attacks and violent incidents there as compared with one such incident in a regular year. There were 112 such incidents in all of western Europe as well as attacks in North America and Australia."
The Mossad official said that in South America, there had been very few violent acts against Jews, apparently because the Muslims were well integrated into society there and their economic situation was good. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
