Israeli military tries to distance Jerusalem attack from ISIS

The IDF spokesman tried to distance ISIS from the terrorist attack in Jerusalem Friday night, which cost the life of policewoman Staff Sgt. Hadas Malka, by claiming that ISIS does not run networks in Judea and Samaria. DEBKAfile’s counterterrorism sources invalidates this argument. ISIS conducted terrorist operations in London, Paris, Brussels. St. Petersburg, San Benardino and other parts of the world without recourse to organized local networks. It mostly used Islamist extremists who were inspired by ISIS which then claimed responsibility. Yet none of their security agencies buried their heads in the sand and tried to let ISIS off the hook.

Our sources also note that ISIS has hit Israel before. Almost exactly a year ago, on June 7,  the Tel Aviv Sarona Market was struck by a band of terrorists led by Khaled Mahamrah from Yata near Hebron, who was identified as a member of a secret ISIS cell planted in Jordan’s Mutah University. He was on a ISIS mission to conduct terrorist massacres in Israel. The attack on another Tel Aviv location, a Dizengoff café, on Jan. 1, 2006, was committed by Nashat Malhem from the Israeli Arab village of Arara, who claimed allegiance to the Islamic State.