170401 FOUO JRIC Bulletin - Jerusalem Edged-Weapon …...Greater Los Angeles area of responsibility,...
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(U//FOUO) The information, graphics, or photographs in this document may be drawn from open-source and raw reporting, and/or finished intelligence products. Receiving agencies are cautioned not to take actions based solely on this reporting. This document is Unclassified//For Official Use Only. UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Together, Toward Safer Communities | Los Angeles · Orange · Riverside · San Bernardino · San Luis Obispo · Santa Barbara · Ventura UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Page 1 BULLETIN 1 April 2017 (U//FOUO) Jerusalem Edged-Weapon Attacks Demonstrate Persistent Threat to Law Enforcement, Civilians (U) Incident Summary (U//FOUO) On 1 April 2017, a 17-year old Palestinian youth, identified as Ahmad Ghazzal (aka Gazal, aka Jazal), stabbed two ultra-Orthodox Jewish men, aged 18 and 20, on Haggai Street in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City. Ghazzal fled into a nearby house before being caught by Israeli border police officers. The suspect stabbed and wounded one police officer before being shot and killed. The civilians sustained wounds to their upper torsos, described as “moderate” in severity. The policeman, in his early 20s, sustained “light” wounds. Ghazzal was reportedly a resident of the city of Nablus in the northern part of the West Bank, and was taking “selfies” on the Temple Mount immediately before the attack. Shortly after the attack, clashes broke out between Palestinians throwing stones and Israeli police. The Beirut- based, Palestinian jihadist Filastin al-Yawm TV channel praised Ghazzal as a martyr. (U//FOUO) This knife attack comes three days after border police shot and killed a woman who attempted to stab officers with scissors at the Damascus Gate, a heavily guarded entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City. The Palestinian Health Ministry later identified her as Siham Rateb Nimir, 49, from East Jerusalem. Her son was shot and killed in September 2016 by Border Police officers as the result of a misunderstanding, according to Palestinian media. (U//FOUO) Since October 2015, at least 162 Palestinians who launched stabbing, shooting, or vehicle ramming attacks have been killed by Israeli security forces, according to Israeli open source reporting. Two Americans and 37 Israelis have been killed as a result of attacks by the Palestinians during the same time period. (U//FOUO) While the latest attacks in Israel are part of the ongoing regional conflict, they demonstrate vulnerability of civilians and law enforcement personnel to attacks from radicalized lone actors using simple weapons. From 2013 to 2016, the number of edged-weapon terrorist attacks in the West increased, with the highest number occurring in 2016, according to NCTC, FBI, and DHS. Several issues of Rumiyah, the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS) English-language electronic magazine, have provided tactical guidance and called for attacks in the West using knives. Moreover, ISIS and al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) have encouraged attacks on law enforcement, intelligence, and military personnel, as well as Jewish and Western civilians using edged and other simple weapons. (U//FOUO) The JRIC has no information regarding current, credible threats to Jewish or Israeli interests in the center’s Greater Los Angeles area of responsibility, but in light of the upcoming Passover holiday—11 April through 18 April, 2017—Jewish communal institutions are encouraged to review their security procedures and remain in close contact with law enforcement. (U) Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (U//FOUO) Both AQAP and ISIS have called for attacks on Jewish and Western targets in their English-language publications and other media, including urging attacks on law enforcement personnel and providing tactical guidance to extremists for knife attacks: (U) Cover of Rumiyah Magazine, Issue 2 Form #6ce542a7-8e80-4889-b61e-ef36c85201ab
Transcript of 170401 FOUO JRIC Bulletin - Jerusalem Edged-Weapon …...Greater Los Angeles area of responsibility,...
(U//FOUO) The information, graphics, or photographs in this document may be drawn from open-source and raw reporting, and/or finished intelligence products. Receiving agencies are cautioned not to take actions based solely on this reporting. This document is Unclassified//For Official Use Only.
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Together, Toward Safer Communities | Los Angeles · Orange · Riverside · San Bernardino · San Luis Obispo · Santa Barbara · Ventura
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Page 1
B U L L E T I N 1 April 2017
(U//FOUO) Jerusalem Edged-Weapon Attacks Demonstrate Persistent Threat to Law Enforcement, Civilians
(U) Incident Summary
(U//FOUO) On 1 April 2017, a 17-year old Palestinian youth, identified as Ahmad Ghazzal (aka Gazal, aka Jazal), stabbed two ultra-Orthodox Jewish men, aged 18 and 20, on Haggai Street in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City. Ghazzal fled into a nearby house before being caught by Israeli border police officers. The suspect stabbed and wounded one police officer before being shot and killed. The civilians sustained wounds to their upper torsos, described as “moderate” in severity. The policeman, in his early 20s, sustained “light” wounds. Ghazzal was reportedly a resident of the city of Nablus in the northern part of the West Bank, and was taking “selfies” on the Temple Mount immediately before the attack. Shortly after the attack, clashes broke out between Palestinians throwing stones and Israeli police. The Beirut-based, Palestinian jihadist Filastin al-Yawm TV channel praised Ghazzal as a martyr.
(U//FOUO) This knife attack comes three days after border police shot and killed a woman who attempted to stab officers with scissors at the Damascus Gate, a heavily guarded entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City. The Palestinian Health Ministry later identified her as Siham Rateb Nimir, 49, from East Jerusalem. Her son was shot and killed in September 2016 by Border Police officers as the result of a misunderstanding, according to Palestinian media.
(U//FOUO) Since October 2015, at least 162 Palestinians who launched stabbing, shooting, or vehicle ramming attacks have been killed by Israeli security forces, according to Israeli open source reporting. Two Americans and 37 Israelis have been killed as a result of attacks by the Palestinians during the same time period.
(U//FOUO) While the latest attacks in Israel are part of the ongoing regional conflict, they demonstrate vulnerability of civilians and law enforcement personnel to attacks from radicalized lone actors using simple weapons. From 2013 to 2016, the number of edged-weapon terrorist attacks in the West increased, with the highest number occurring in 2016, according to NCTC, FBI, and DHS. Several issues of Rumiyah, the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS) English-language electronic magazine, have provided tactical guidance and called for attacks in the West using knives. Moreover, ISIS and al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) have encouraged attacks on law enforcement, intelligence, and military personnel, as well as Jewish and Western civilians using edged and other simple weapons.
(U//FOUO) The JRIC has no information regarding current, credible threats to Jewish or Israeli interests in the center’s Greater Los Angeles area of responsibility, but in light of the upcoming Passover holiday—11 April through 18 April, 2017—Jewish communal institutions are encouraged to review their security procedures and remain in close contact with law enforcement.
(U) Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures
(U//FOUO) Both AQAP and ISIS have called for attacks on Jewish and Western targets in their English-language publications and other media, including urging attacks on law enforcement personnel and providing tactical guidance to extremists for knife attacks:
(U) Cover of Rumiyah Magazine, Issue 2
Form #6ce542a7-8e80-4889-b61e-ef36c85201ab
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Page 2
1 April 2017 B U L L E T I N
(U//FOUO) In October 2014, ISIS called for attacks on Westerners, especially law enforcement, military, and intelligence personnel in the United States in its English-language electronic magazine, Dabiq.
(U//FOUO) Rumiyah’s October and December 2016 issues provided explicit guidance on how to conduct effective attacks using a knife. ISIS encouraged attacks on lone victims in alleys, public parks, forested areas, “quiet neighborhoods and roads,” and “canals, riversides, and beaches.”
(U//FOUO) The May 2016 issue of Inspire, AQAP’s electronic English-language magazine featured an article “O Knife Revolution, Head Towards America.”[sic]
(U//FOUO) Since 2014, perpetrators in several attacks on law enforcement personnel and civilians in the Homeland and overseas have used edged weapons:
(U//FOUO) On 22 March 2017, a Hyundai SUV rammed into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge near the Parliament building in London before crashing into the Parliamentary perimeter gates. The driver tried to force his way into a secure entrance to Parliament, where he stabbed one police officer before being shot by another officer. The stabbed police officer and three civilians were confirmed deceased; 40 civilians, including three French students and three police officers, were injured, some severely.
(U//FOUO) On 3 February 2017, French soldiers shot and critically wounded a man who shouted “Allahu Akbar” as he attacked them with a machete at the Louvre museum in Paris, France.
(U//FOUO) On 28 November 2016, Abdul Razak Ali Artan USPER, DECEASED deliberately drove a Honda Civic into the courtyard of Watts Hall at Ohio State University (OSU) in Columbus, Ohio, striking pedestrians before crashing into a wall. He then used a butcher’s knife to attack students. Artan injured 13 people before being shot and killed by an OSU police officer. ISIS praised the attack.
(U//FOUO) On 23 October 2014, Zale H. ThompsonUSPER, DECEASED attacked four New York PD officers with a hatchet while two of the officers were having their photo taken by a journalist. ISIS praised the attack.
(U//FOUO) The latest stabbings in Israel, as well as past attacks, indicate indicate lone offenders often take advantage of crowded locations, including tourist destinations, that provide mixed targets of opportunity, including civilians, law enforcement, and military personnel, using easily-obtained weapons such as butcher knives, machetes, and scissors that do not require specialized training.
(U) Possible Indicators of Pre-Operational Surveillance and Preparations for an Edged-Weapon Attack
(U//FOUO) According to the FBI and DHS, the following actions may suggest pre-operational activities. Some of them may be constitutionally protected and should be supported by additional facts to justify increased suspicions:
(U//FOUO) Unusual interest in or unusual questions about security procedures, or engaging in overtly suspicious actions to provoke and observe responses by security or law enforcement officers.
(U//FOUO) Loitering, parking, or standing in the same area over multiple days with no reasonable explanation.
(U//FOUO) Acquisition of maps or blueprints of law enforcement or military facilities without a plausible explanation or purpose.
(U//FOUO) Garments not appropriate for the weather or season without a reasonable explanation.
Form #6ce542a7-8e80-4889-b61e-ef36c85201ab
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
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1 April 2017 B U L L E T I N
(U) Implications/Outlook
(U//FOUO) Edged-weapon attacks, including against members of the law enforcement community, will likely continue to be used by radicalized actors, regardless of affiliation or motivation.
(U//FOUO) Law enforcement and first responders are encouraged to update training plans to include edged-weapon attacks and “self-aid” measures such as quick-clotting bandages and tourniquets.
(U) Reporting, Questions, Feedback
(U) To report suspicious activity to the JRIC, visit www.jric.org or call (562) 345-1100.
(U) To provide feedback about this product, please complete the online survey.
Form #6ce542a7-8e80-4889-b61e-ef36c85201ab
