As Israel burns, are we looking at a new form of eco-terrorism?

Terrorism expert warns against calling wildfires "fire intifada."

By ANNA AHRONHEIM
Updated: NOVEMBER 24, 2016 23:17
Fires in Israel
With wildfires currently raging across Israel for a third consecutive day, many are concerned that this may be a new form of terrorism.
Fires from an estimated 220 points of origin have broken out throughout central and northern Israel since Wednesday and assessments by police have strengthened suspicions that many were deliberately set and were nationalistically motivated.
Boaz Ganor, founder and executive director of the International Institute for Counter- Terrorism, told The Jerusalem Post that, “even if a portion are intentional, it is not organized.
It’s not that you have a terrorist organization giving orders to their members to carry out fire attacks, though maybe in a few hours you can have groups like Hamas claiming the fires.”
But “one thing is clear,” Ganor said. “It is not a new form of terrorism. Arson attacks and setting fires in populated areas or forests are a well known modus operandi of terrorist groups, and not only in Israel.
In the ninth issue of the English-language Inspire magazine, released by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula in 2012, a significant portion was dedicated to attacking the United States by starting wildfires. The magazine listed instructions on how to ignite forest fires and the materials required, and instructs readers to look for two factors needed for a successful wildfire: dry conditions and high winds.
“When we define this phenomenon as ‘fire intifada’ – words used by the media, politicians and laypeople – we are overestimating the phenomenon,” Ganor told the Post. Nevertheless, Ganor explained that the pictures on social media networks of flames in the center of Haifa and surrounding Jerusalem are “heaven for those who may want to join the so-called ‘fire intifada,’ especially if you add the false reasoning of revenge for banning the call to prayer.”
Yoram Schweitzer, head of the program on terrorism and low-intensity conflict at the Institute for National Security Studies, told the Post that the term “fire intifada” should not be used, stressing that before accusing anyone there should be a full investigation into the fires.
The wildfires have been cheered by many on social media using the hashtag #IsraelBurns. Many postings saying that this is divine retribution for the pending controversial law to ban mosque loudspeakers for the Muslim call to prayer.
Last week Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal said that, “What the Israeli occupation state is doing at al-Aksa Mosque, as well as preventing the call to prayer in Jerusalem, is playing with fire. This created a fierce reaction in the Palestinian community and the whole of the Islamic nation.”
Ganor says “we should not exaggerate the terrorist motivation behind the wildfires,” stressing that “the conditions right now are perfect for fires, with an extended period of dry weather and strong winds.”
Michael Horowitz, director of intelligence at Prime Source, a Middle East-based geopolitical consultancy firm, agreed. “It is too early to conclude that this is a “new form of terrorism,” but it definitely can turn into that because of the virality of the trend,” he told the Post, adding that “it’s been praised by Hamas, and the hashtag “Israel is burning” is trending in Arabic. The mere perception of success can be enough to encourage copycat attacks.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday visited the Fire and Rescue Service’s coastal district forward command center, where was briefed on the efforts to put out the fires, many of which he said are “deliberate acts of arson.”
In Haifa, senior firefighter Shimon Ben Ner, told Army Radio that “I know for a fact that they tried to set fire to the department’s station in Haifa deliberately, to cause the Haifa fire department to be paralyzed.”
In 2010, 44 people were killed in Israel’s worst forest fire. The three-day Mount Carmel forest fire destroyed thousands of hectares of land and forced some 17,000 people to be evacuated from their homes, as well as various prisons, hospitals and military jails.
Two residents of the Druse town of Daliat al-Carmel were arrested for allegedly attempting to start a fire in the Mount Carmel area. While police officials later said no wrongdoing had been established with certainty, many believe that arson was behind the Carmel forest blaze.