Israel’s Domestic Intelligence Agency, Shin Bet Director Nadav Argaman provided the Israeli cabinet with an extensive review of challenges the Jewish state faces today, and informed the cabinet ministers of the agency’s activities and preparations ahead of the Jewish High holidays. Among the ongoing activities of the Shin Bet, Argaman revealed that some 200 terror attacks were foiled since the beginning of 2017, while Prime Minister Netanyahu revealed that during the months of July and August alone, the Shin Bet thwarted some 70 terror cells from carrying out their planned attacks against Israeli citizens and soldiers. Shin Bet Director Nadav Argaman also provided the Cabinet with details on the Islamist Hamas organization, which the Intelligence official stressed “is already prepared for another round of fighting against Israel.” Argaman noted that while Hamas was stocking thousands of rockets and mortars in the Gaza Strip, it has also prepared dozens of terror-cells whose objective is to carry out painful terror attacks from the West Bank against the Israeli home front. Regarding the possibility of a new war between Israel and the Islamist organizations in the Gaza Strip, Argaman warned that the current definition of the situation in Gaza is “deceptive quiet.” Argaman stressed that the current stability was coupled by expedited efforts by Hamas to build itself militarily, “even at the expense of civilians’ wellbeing.” The Shin Bet Director further noted that the economic and civilian state of affairs in the Gaza Strip was a key contributor to the feasible eruption of yet another round of violence with Gaza.
