viewpoints » S end letters to: letters@thejewishnews.com DETROIT JEWISH NEWS theJEWISHNEWS.com essay ISIS Indoctrination Keeps Israel Vigilant I slamic State doesn’t appear to have large-scale cells in Israel or the Palestinian-controlled areas of the West Bank or the Gaza Strip. But the terrorist group commands sympathizers in all those places. So Israeli intelligence is respecting the appeal of the global jihadist group — widely known as ISIS, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Israeli leaders believe ISIS boasts more than 100 recruits within the Jewish state’s borders. Active recruitment continues not only for fighters for battle inside Syria and Iraq, but also for attacks on Israeli Robert Sklar soil, especially via Egypt’s lawless Sinai Peninsula. Contributing Like Hamas, the Shiite Editor Muslim terrorist organiza- tion ruling the Gaza Strip, Sunni Muslim-leaning ISIS imagines Israel’s destruction. Underscoring ISIS’s allure, Israel has announced the arrest of an Israeli Arab couple who had become enamored with ISIS content and videos. The couple later made contact via Facebook with another Israeli Arab who had joined ISIS in 2013, according to Israel’s Shin Bet domestic security service. The couple’s Sept. 22 arrest by the Shin Bet, aided by the Israeli Police, is a stark reminder of just how porous Middle East defenses can be against ISIS propaganda. While Israel has repelled most ISIS terror plots within, the group has scored limited success. Take it from the Shin Bet, which declared in a press bulletin following the arrest that “the phenomena of Israelis leaving for Syria and Iraq is grave and dangerous.” OFFICIAL ACCOUNT According to the Shin Bet: Wissam and Sabarin Zabidat were indicted in Haifa District Court on charges of leaving Israel for an enemy country and joining a terror- ist group. They are from the Arab town of Sakhnin, 21 miles from Migdal HaEmek, one of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit’s Partnership2Gether communities in Israel’s Northern District. Make no mistake about the couple’s attrac- Israel eyes the U.S.-developed Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II as a next- generaton fighter jet. Take it from the Shin Bet: “The phenomena of Israelis leaving for Syria and Iraq is grave and dangerous.” tion to ISIS: When they left Israel in June 2015, the couple took along their three kids, ages 8, 6 and 3. That kind of commitment to terror in the face of raising three young chil- dren is sobering, to say the least. The Zabidats trekked to Romania and Turkey, then into Syria. There, Wissam traveled to an ISIS training camp in Iraq. Fighting followed. He ended up in a hospital in Mosul. Against invading Iraqi-led forces, ISIS is trying to salvage Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, as the cultural capital of what the Wall Street Journal called “ISIS’s envisaged caliph- ate.” ISIS has held that northern Iraqi city for about two years. Harsh conditions in besieged Mosul, including poverty, bombardment and disease — none surprising — drove the Zabidats away this past June despite resistance from Islamic State fighters. The family was detained in Turkey before being released. They flew to Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport, where they were arrested. WARPED VIEW ISIS has been known to enlist recruits not only from the Middle East, but also from the West, including the U.S. The draw: a better community view continued from page 5 and 1980s, had the patience and willing- ness when building the great I696 freeway through our neighborhoods to ensure safe walking passage for our Shomar Shabbos as they cut through. Those engineers stood with some of us on the roof of Prentis Tower to see exactly how far flung our people were. And with loving care and the help of a very wise 6 November 3 • 2016 and persistent mayor of Oak Park, the freeway opened on a bitter, blustery day in 1989 with beautiful grassy crossovers designed to hold us all together. I stood on that overpass as the ribbons were cut, tears of pride and elation freez- ing on my cheeks. And I was not alone. How very sad that the Michigan Highway Department felt more compas- or more adventurous life. The Shin Bet’s press bulletin explained that ISIS disseminates publications “designed to construct a distorted image of itself as allowing a good and respectable life under an Islamic regime’’ or, alternatively, under the guise “of religious and military adventure.” The hitch, according to the Shin Bet, lies in Israeli sympathizers returning from Syria and Iraq after living under ISIS and reveal- ing “a completely opposite picture about the dangers and harsh living conditions.” Shin Bet interrogators learned from the Zabidats about ISIS enacting laws discrimi- nating against women and employing such brutal methods of punishment as behead- ings and amputations, the Wall Street Journal reported. STAYING AWARE Most Israeli Arabs are law abiding and thankful they live in a society more demo- cratic and inclusive than anything they would find in a neighboring Arab country. Still, you can’t diminish the draw of ISIS indoctrination within Israel given Israel’s proximity to the terrorist group’s heartland. Col. Yehuda Cohen, immediate past commander of the Israeli Defense Forces’ Sagi Brigade along the border with Egypt, foresees when ISIS leaders will be capable of acting on a yearning to make a dramatic statement inside Israel. “The reason they have not done it yet is the deterrence,” Cohen said in an August interview with Israel’s Maariv newspaper. “They can conduct attacks on us at any time on the border, but they are asking themselves if it is worth it. They know we can take action against anyone. That doesn’t mean they will not try in the future. In any case, we aren’t relying on being only a deterrence; we are preparing for any scenario.” Cohen added that ISIS “is an organization that we have not yet met but are expecting to meet in the future. We see their activities and successes. We are studying and analyzing their military doctrine.” That’s a wise approach as Israel awaits U.S. testing and final development of the next- generation stealth fighter jet, the F-35. Meanwhile, Israel will have to demonstrate unswerving vigilance to keep a step ahead of ISIS and its wily, unpredictable and terrorist nature. * sion and understanding of our obser- vant neighborhoods’ needs than our Federation and JCC. The lights have gone out, and the powers that be seem oblivious and uncaring. A death knell has sounded. The conscience of the greater com- munity has turned to stone. * Ja net Birnkrant Levine is a resident of Huntington Woods. Arthur M. Horwitz Publisher / Executive Editor ahorwitz@renmedia.us F. Kevin Browett Chief Operating Officer kbrowett@renmedia.us | Editorial Managing Editor: Jackie Headapohl jheadapohl@renmedia.us Story Development Editor: Keri Guten Cohen kcohen@thejewishnews.com Arts & Life Editor: Lynne Konstantin lkonstantin@renmedia.us Senior Copy Editor: David Sachs dsachs@renmedia.us Editorial Assistant: Sy Manello smanello@renmedia.us Senior Columnist: Danny Raskin dannyraskin@sbcglobal.net Contributing Editor: Robert Sklar rsklar@renmedia.us Contributing Writers: Ruthan Brodsky, Suzanne Chessler, Annabel Cohen, Don Cohen, Shari S. Cohen, Shelli Liebman Dorfman, Adam Finkel, Ryan Fishman, Stacy Gittleman, Judy Greenwald, Ronelle Grier, Esther Allweiss Ingber, Barbara Lewis, Jennifer Lovy, Rabbi Jason Miller, Alan Muskovitz, Robin Schwartz, Steve Stein | Creative Services Corporate Creative Director: Deborah Schultz dschultz@renmedia.us | Advertising Sales Sales Director: Keith Farber kfarber@renmedia.us Account Executives : Kathryn Andros, Paul Biondi, Wendy Flusty, Annette Kizy, Paige Lustig Sales Manager Assistants : Andrea Gusho, Karen Marzolf | Business Offices Billing Coordinator: Pamela Turner Collections Analyst: Hazel Bender | Production By FARAGO & ASSOCIATES Manager: Scott Drzewiecki Designers: Amy Pollard, Pam Sherevan, Michelle Sheridan, Susan Walker | Detroit Jewish News Chairman: Michael H. Steinhardt President/Publisher: Arthur M. Horwitz ahorwitz@renmedia.us Chief Operating Officer: F. Kevin Browett kbrowett@renmedia.us Controller: Craig R. Phipps Corporate Creative Director: Deborah Schultz dschultz@renmedia.us | Fulfillment circulationdesk@thejewishnews.com | Departments General Offi ces: 248-354-6060 Advertising: 248-351-5107 Advertising Fax: 248-304-0049 Circulation: 248-351-5174 Classifi ed Ads: 248-351-5116 Advertising Deadline: Monday, 2 p.m. Editorial Fax: 248-304-8885 Deadline: All public and social announcements must be typewritten and received by noon Tuesday, nine days prior to desired date of publication. Subscriptions: 1 year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $85 2 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $153 3 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $204 1 year out-of-state . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $125 2 years out-of-state . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $225 Per year foreign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $300 Detroit Jewish News 29200 Northwestern Highway, Suite 110 Southfi eld, MI 48034 ©copyright 2016 Detroit Jewish News To make a donation to the DETROIT JEWISH NEWS FOUNDATION go to the website www.djnfounadtion.org