RUTHFULLY YOURS

In the latest issue of al Qaeda’s English magazine in the Arabian Peninsula,
“Inspire,” the organization calls on its operatives and supporters to set
forests on fire as part of its struggle against enemies of Islam. The
magazine, which emphasizes that forest fires are a permitted combat method
in Islam, provides relevant quotes from the Koran as proof. The magazine
also includes detailed explanations on how to prepare incendiary bombs to
set forests ablaze.

This is not the first time that al Qaeda is calling for operatives to commit
arson. In June 2003, a published FBI memo revealed that an al Qaeda
operative arrested in the United States planned to cause a series of forest
fires. Influenced by the tremendous damage caused by Australian forest
fires, the operative planned a series of attacks in which terrorists were to
plant bombs with delay mechanisms at several sites around the US. The
operative claimed that the fires were meant to influence US public opinion
and its ability to demand and change governmental policies.

In November 2007, a website affiliated with al Qaeda published a call for a
“forest jihad” during summer. The publication listed the advantages of
setting forests ablaze, including causing many casualties, damaging tourist
locations, creating an absence of wood for industry, and creating
difficulties for fire and rescue services. The publication also justified
the acts from the perspective of Islamic law.

In October 2008, the British journal “Sunday Express” reported that al Qaeda
had threatened to open a new environmental front in its anti-Western
campaign. Western intelligence sources explained that they intercepted
messages from the organization’s activists that threatened to ignite forest
fires around the world in an effort to spread panic and hurt the West’s
economy. One of the messages stated: “Imagine that, after all the damage is
caused, if a jihad organization were to take responsibility for the forest
fires. You can imagine the dread it would cause people in the US, Europe,
Russia, and Australia.”

At the end of January 2012, an announcement was published on al Qaeda’s
websites by an unknown group (known as Masadat Al-Mujahidin) that said it
was “declaring war on America.” It should be noted that Masadat Al-Mujahidin
is also the name of the group that took responsibility for setting forest
fires in the state of Nevada in the US in January 2012.

Al Qaeda and Israeli Fires

On May 13 2012, internet websites associated with al Qaeda published news
about instances of arson throughout Israel (in the Ashkelon, Haifa, and Umm
El-Fahm areas) that were allegedly carried out by Masadat Al-Mujahidin Fi
Palestine.

On the Al Handasat website, the group’s commander, known as Abu Amar
Alansari, stated that the group was established in order to fulfill the
Jihad obligation and recruit youths towards the fight against the Jews in
Palestine.

However, this was not the first group that called for arson tactics against
Israel. Palestinian terror organizations started carrying out arson attacks
prior to the founding of al Qaeda in 1989. During the 1980s and 1990s, arson
attacks constituted about a third of all the forest fires in Israel. The
First Palestinian Intifada, which began in 1987, was one of the reasons
behind the dramatic increase in the number of arson attacks, as it was a
tactic used in the violent struggle against Israel. During the Al Aqsa
Intifada (2000-2005) and afterwards, the use of arson attacks in general,
and forest fires in particular, continued as part of the terror groups’
modus operandi.

While the Carmel fire appears to be the result of negligence, various terror
organizations, including Hezbollah, rushed to take responsibility for the
fire and use it to broadcast Israel’s weakness.

At Al Handasat, it was claimed that the Carmel disaster was the result of
arson carried out by Masadat Al-Mujahidin Fi Palestine. One Palestinian
commentator on Israeli affairs even claimed on a websites that “the Carmel
fire proved without a doubt that Israel cannot enter a war – not with Syria,
not with Hezbollah, and not even with Hamas in Gaza.” He also posed
questions to his audience about what Israel would do if Hezbollah missiles
were to fall in the same place where the fire erupted. “Netanyahu would have
called on the world to help him because of one fire. What would he do if
many fires erupted in the next war?” he wrote.

In the Palestinian daily “Palestine,” which is identified with Hamas in
Gaza, the columnist Mustafa A-Sawaf wrote: “This fire revealed a clear
helplessness on Israel’s part in its internal arena in enduring a natural
disaster. Such a disaster may occur at any time – whether from arson by a
mentally disturbed person or due to a rocket, such as those fired at the
Gaza Strip. Defeating Israel is a simple and possible matter. Israel is
nothing more than a paper-country that cannot last against the resistance
and against history. A single spark could set it on fire and there’s no need
for a military balance or nuclear capability in order to wipe it off the
map,” he wrote.

Forest fires represent a relatively cheap and efficient modus operandi that
requires few resources. Locating an appropriate target and high temperatures
with strong winds that can turn an arson attack into a national disaster are
the basic requirements.

One problem arson attacks present to authorities is the difficulty in
finding the perpetrator – a lone attacker, a local terror group, or a terror
organization can cause it, and it is difficult to foil an attack in advance
due to the ease in which it can be carried out. In recent decades,
Palestinian terror organizations have carried out dozens of arson attacks
and caused considerable ecologic and economic damage. The 2010 Carmel fire
and its extensive media coverage, which revealed Israel’s weakness in
dealing with the event, may serve as inspiration and as an incentive for
terror organizations trying to exploit the hot summer.

While al Qaeda is not the first group to call for the use of forest fires as
a means of terror, its extensive distribution of propaganda on Jihadi
websites and the organization’s unique standing may encourage “forest
jihad.”

In the past two years, Israel has taken considerable action to improve the
challenges posed by forest fires. This includes establishing a firefighter
squadron, which has already extinguished forest fires, as well as improving
the coordination between security elements and rescue services needed during
a fire.

Al Qaeda, as well as other terror organizations, will likely exploit the hot
summer weather to their advantage. This possibility necessitates readiness
on behalf of the intelligence organizations, so that they can find and foil
planned attacks before they are implemented. It also requires deploying
ground or air observation systems in high-risk areas to locate arson
attempts as early as possible, and provide an updated situational picture to
rescue and firefighter forces so that they can provide an optimal response.