In recent weeks, the Israeli Federal investigations unit Shin Bet has been working to thwart the intentions of planning and carrying out attacks in Israel led by Salah Sweti, known as Abu Hassan, a resident of Lebanon and former Hezbollah operative who has strong ties to factions inside the Gaza Strip.
During the Shin Bet investigation, two residents of East Jerusalem, with Israeli identification cards who were in contact with Abu Hassan and planned a terrorist attack with him were arrested. Under his guidance, the two carried out intelligence-gathering missions and photographed places in Israeli territories, with an emphasis on Jerusalem, in order to promote terrorist attacks in the name of Palestinian Nationalism.
Israel's Shin Bet has uncovered attempts by a former Hezbollah operative to recruit Palestinians for terror attacks through TikTok, according to a report by The Times of Israel. #Israel #Hezbollah #TikTok https://t.co/WUngqbXI6x
— The Foreign Desk (@ForeignDeskNews) February 3, 2023
The Shin Bet's investigation revealed that Abu Hassan located the potential operatives from Judea and Samaria along with East Jerusalem neighborhoods through social networks, with an emphasis on Tiktok. The Chinese-developed social media platform has become a hub for a growing trend of terrorism that is broadcasted for followers of the terrorist organization-run pages and other users of the app.
The “Lion’s Den” for example, a terrorist cell that operates in Northern Samaria, used TikTok to gain popularity amongst the younger generation of Palestinian nationalists; it was only after months of IDF confrontation with the organization that TikTok finally agreed to take down the organization's pages, recognizing the glorification of violence being uploaded to them.
Nevertheless, TikTok has remained a staple for the new wave of terrorism, as seen in the case of Lebanese Abu Hassan who concentrated on the personal aspect and general discourse, such as the situation in Jerusalem and conflicts between Jews and Arabs. Later, and as part of the recruitment process that characterizes Hezbollah, Abu Hassan moved to conduct the conversation on Telegram, which is considered to be more discrete. There he forwarded seemingly innocent requests to carry out tasks, such as taking photos and videos in Israel as an optional target for an attack.
#BREAKING
— Royal Intel 👑 (@RoyalIntel_) February 3, 2023
The Israeli Internal Security Service reported that the Shin Bet managed to “thwart an attempt by the Lebanese Hezbollah to recruit residents of East Jerusalem through TikTok to carry out terrorist attacks against Israeli targets.” pic.twitter.com/CqP5sIYovx
Over time and with the strengthening of the relationship between the parties, Abu Hassan instructed his operatives to initiate terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens, while ignoring the damage that would be caused to the operatives and their families. Luckily, the Israeli police were already investigating the suspicious conversations and picture-taking and were able to thwart any attack way before it could be executed. However, as a resident of Lebanon, Israel has yet to get their hands on Abu Hassan himself who continues to be active both on TikTok and Telegram.
