Behind Thailand’s Terror Scare

By Eliezer Shulman of Mishpacha and Aryeh Levin of COLlive

Very little is known about the security program that is implemented by the division in the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, responsible for Israel’s representations abroad.

What is known is that it has been coined, “the Jewish defense ring.”

They work in cooperation with the Mossad, the national intelligence agency of Israel which has people in every Israel embassy. Official organizations like the Jewish Agency benefit from the security.

3 years ago, after the terror attack on the Chabad House in Mumbai and the murder of the Shluchim Gabi and Rivky Holtzberg, Israeli Minister Eli Yishai held a series of meetings with then-Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin and then-Mossad chief Meir Dagan to include Chabad in the program.

He explained his request that Chabad Houses in many countries are “the soft underbelly” of attacks because of the high volume of Israeli tourists and backpackers.

Diskin and Dagan refused at first. They said the existing security divisions are overloaded with operations and that the resources were limited.

Yishai, chairman of the religious Sephardic Shas party who has met Chabad in his travels abroad, didn’t give up and got top Lubavitch officials to meet and explain the need, among them Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky.

What was decided was that Israeli security agencies will be helping Chabads in “dangerous areas.” This procedure has continued when Tamir Fredo and Yoram Cohen, were appointed to the Mossad and Shin Bet, respectively.

Today, as the cooperation continues, Chabad Houses in popular tourist locations are well guarded and secure, offering a safe haven – spiritually and physically – for Jews of all walks of life.

The Thailand Scare

When news broke out this week about two Hezbollah-linked terrorist in Thailand, the people at the Chabad House in Bankhok were well in the know.

Rabbi Nechemia Wilhelm, the Shliach known among Israelis as “the father of the backpackers,” said he was updated about the threat weeks earlier.

“Security personnel came and told us there was a plan to harm us,” he told Mishpacha this week. “We have security 24 hours a day – at our expense and at the cost of between 60 and 80 thousand dollars a year. Since getting the alert, we strengthened the security.”

The New York Times reported that “Western intelligence agencies know that Hezbollah operatives have scouted El Al offices and counters in Thailand, as well as the Chabad House in Bangkok and other places where Israelis gather in the backpacker district around Khao San Road.”

Wilhelm said he thinks “someone from Israel” helped the Thai authorities with information leading to the suspect Hussein Atris, a 47-year-old who holds both Lebanese and Swedish citizenship.

When the Thai Defense Minister Yuthasak Sasiprapha was asked more specifically about the information, he said: “The United States has been in contact last night about two terrorists that entered the country. These are two Muslims, they are enemies of Israel.”

While he was initially suspected of terrorism, Atris was later formally charged with illegal explosives possession after Thai police said they found large amounts of ammonium nitrate and fertilizer in a storage facility rented by Atris on the outskirts of Bangkok.

Atris told the Aftonbladet newspaper on Thursday that “a lot of the material police found in my storage facility had been placed there, most likely by the Israeli intelligence service Mossad.”

Rabbi Wilhelm said that ever since the warning was issued, Chabad House in Bangkok has seen more Israeli travelers who have come by, not just to find out what is happening, but also because they feel more secure at Chabad House.

“We all hope that after they were able to catch one member of the terror group – and they’re assuming that the other guy has already left the country – that this is behind us,” he told IsraelNationalNews.com.

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