Digital Jihad: Palestinian Resistance in the Digital Era by Erik Skare

Author:Erik Skare [Skare, Erik]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Advocacy, Security, Political Science, Political Process, Computers, General
ISBN: 9781783607860
Google: y_40EAAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 29362240
Publisher: Zed Books
Published: 2016-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

IMPORTING ELECTRONIC JIHAD

It is important, and equally interesting, that the members of Hamas stated that they had got help from abroad in developing the cyber-warriors of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigade: “We don’t deny that some countries helped us with this, do you understand?”;20 and when asked whether the situation was any different for Islamic Jihad, the main representative of the Islamic Jihad movement stated:

No, of course, this army has gotten help, education and training from different agencies that support the Palestinian cause. There are both local and foreign specialties in this field. We all aim for the same goal and we have received modern hardware [devices] through different agencies who are friends of the Palestinian people and there are also parts bought from the local and the black market in order to continue our development.21

Not too surprisingly, when he was asked if the help came from Iran, he stated bluntly that he did not have “enough information” on the subject.

However, it is not farfetched to highlight the work of Iran when it comes to the development of cyber-brigades in the Arab world – among others, because of their close ideological links – since the main representative of Islamic Jihad considered the Iranian revolution and Khomeini an inspiration for the movement.

As Abu Ahmad, the spokesperson of the armed al-Quds Brigade, stated, according to al-Monitor: “We are not the only Palestinian armed group that receives Iranian support, but we are the one that admits it the loudest. We feel it’s like an inevitable gratitude.”22 This is in addition to the knowledge we have today of Iran as one of the foremost countries regarding cyber-technology (often mentioned alongside Russia and China), and Iran is described by the Institute for National Security Studies as one of the “most active players in the international cyber arena”.23

In his book The War Against the People, the Israeli peace activist Jeff Halper asks how Israel possibly can get away “with it all”. Many blame the Israeli lobby American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), but we tend to forget about the American arms lobby; companies such as Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin and the rest of the war profiteers certainly surpass the AIPAC when it comes to funding American politicians.24 Israel has been in constant conflict since its establishment, with four conventional wars and seven asymmetrical or unconventional wars,25 and it has simultaneously needed to pacify the Palestinians, taking the perspective that the occupation will never end. The Israeli occupation can in many respects be compared to the “War on Terror”: does anyone really believe it will ever be won?

Yet when it comes to pacifying the Palestinians, it is also a perfect testing ground for weapons – what Halper terms the “Laboratory” of Palestinians. For example, one of the leading arguments of the Israeli arms industry is that the weapons have been tested under “realistic environments”; it is in addition immensely important for American arms producers as it is also a laboratory for American arms and equipment. For example,

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