Overview: Israel remained a committed counterterrorism partner, closely coordinating with the United States on a range of counterterrorism initiatives. Owing to COVID-19, Israel and the United States held virtual interagency counterterrorism dialogues to collaborate on regional threats. Counterterrorism issues were also at the center of the agenda during numerous high-level U.S. visits to Israel.

Israel faced threats along its northern and northeastern frontier from Hizballah and other Iran-backed groups, including as many as 150,000 rockets and missiles aimed at Israel, according to some Israeli estimates.  Israeli officials expressed concern that Iran was supplying Hizballah with advanced weapons systems and technologies, including precision-guided missiles.  This concern included Iran’s work to assist Hizballah and other proxies in indigenously producing rockets, missiles, and drones.

To the South, Israel faced threats from terrorist organizations including Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and ISIS-Sinai Province. During the May escalation between Israel and Hamas, Hamas fired thousands of rockets into Israel from Gaza over 11 days, causing casualties. Other sporadic rocket attacks resulted in several injuries and property damage. The May escalation also saw a spike in intercommunal violence. There were attempts to infiltrate Israel from Gaza by armed militants (mostly during the May escalation), none of which resulted in Israeli casualties. Other sources of terrorist threats included the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and lone-actor attacks.

2021 Terrorist Incidents: The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported that the number of deaths from terrorist incidents had been the lowest in a decade. Nonetheless, Israel still experienced terrorist attacks involving weapons ranging from rockets and mortars to vehicular attacks, small arms, and knives. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, combined property damage as a result of incendiary balloons and rockets from Gaza during the year totaled $61.7 million.

The following is a representative list of IDF-identified incidents:

• In May, Hamas and other terrorist groups, including PIJ, launched more than 4,400 rockets and numerous incendiary balloons from Gaza toward Israel, many of which targeted civilian areas. Rockets from Hamas killed 13 civilians in Israel; Iron Dome, Israel’s air defense system, intercepted the vast majority of the rockets destined for populated areas. Israeli retaliatory airstrikes and errant Hamas rockets killed 256 Palestinians, of whom 128 were civilians, per UN figures. Estimates of Palestinians killed by Hamas rockets that fell short in Gaza are disputed, with some NGOs stating that as few as 20 were killed in this manner, and others putting the number at 91.
• The May escalation with Hamas sparked social and intercommunal violence that resulted in property damage and casualties. Three Arab Israeli residents of Jaffa allegedly threw firebombs in Jaffa’s Ajami neighborhood, and 12-year-old Mohammed Jintzai sustained serious injuries in one of those attacks. Three suspects were arrested and charged with planning and perpetrating terror attacks, and for the illegal possession of weapons. The State Attorney’s Office also indicted seven Arab Israelis and Palestinians (five Israeli citizens and two residents of the West Bank) for terror offenses, including the murder of Yigal Yehoshua in Lod on May 11, for throwing stones, harming a vehicle, and obstructing justice. Four Jewish Israelis were arrested for assaulting, stabbing, and seriously wounding a Palestinian man in Jerusalem, and a similar assault carried out by a different group of young Jewish men also took place in Jerusalem later in the year. Police arrested 2,142 suspects, seized 970 illegal weapons and ammunition, and filed 184 indictments (some against more than one suspect) because of the May violence.
• On September 30, a 30-year-old Palestinian woman attempted to stab police officers at the Chain Gate entrance to the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount (HAS/TM), according to press reports. Police shot and killed her, then briefly closed one HAS/TM gate and the Damascus Gate in the aftermath of the attack.
• On November 21, a Hamas militant opened fire in Jerusalem’s Old City, killing one person and wounding four others (one seriously) before Israeli police fatally shot him. Israeli officials said Eliyahu Kay, a 26-year-old immigrant from South Africa, was killed in the shooting. Police identified the attacker as a 42-year-old Palestinian, Fadi Abu Shkhaidem, a teacher at a nearby high school in East Jerusalem.
• On December 3, a 25-year-old Palestinian resident of the West Bank repeatedly stabbed a Jewish civilian outside Damascus Gate in East Jerusalem, then attacked two Border Police officers who shot and ultimately killed the attacker.
• On December 8, a Palestinian minor stabbed 26-year-old Moriah Cohen in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem, as Cohen was taking her children to daycare. Although stabbed in the back, Cohen was only lightly injured. The suspect was arrested later in the day at her school.

Legislation, Law Enforcement, and Border Security: Israel has a robust legal framework to combat terrorism and promote international legal assistance in the investigation and prosecution of terrorists. Israeli security forces took law enforcement actions against suspected terrorists and terrorist groups. On November 24, the Shin Bet said it had uncovered a major Hamas cell of more than 50 operatives in the West Bank seeking to commit terror attacks, including within Israel. The Shin Bet added that it found a variety of weapons, including materials for assembling four explosive belts. This was the first case in more than five years in which Israel had disrupted a major Hamas plot to resume suicide bombings. On October 22, the Israeli Defense Ministry issued a military order designating six Palestinian NGOs under Israel’s 2016 Counterterrorism Law as affiliates of the PFLP, which is a U.S.-designated FTO.

Countering the Financing of Terrorism: The 2019 Israeli Deduction Law requires the Ministry of Finance to withhold from its monthly tax revenue transfers to the Palestinian Authority (PA) the amounts Israel estimates the PA pays to Palestinians connected to terrorism, including to the families of terrorists who died in attacks.  The PA calls these prisoner and “martyr” payments, and argues they are social payments for families who have lost their primary breadwinner.  The United States and Israel argue the payments incentivize and reward terrorism, particularly given the higher monthly payments the longer an individual remains imprisoned, which corresponds to more severe crimes.  The Jerusalem Post estimates that “martyr” payments total $152.3 million annually.

According to the PA, during 2021 Israeli deductions from clearance revenues for prisoner and “martyr” payments amounted to $259.74 million, although this amount was expected to be reduced to $192 million in 2022. In January, senior Palestinian officials told the Times of Israel that the PA was willing to base the stipends on prisoners’ financial needs rather than the length of their sentence. However, at year’s end this suggested policy change had not occurred. In September, the Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories estimated that resolving the prisoner and “martyr” payments issue “would unlock over a billion shekels [$314 million].”

Countering Violent Extremism: There were no updates in 2021.

International and Regional Cooperation: Collaborative counterterrorism efforts continued among Israeli intelligence services, their partners in Europe and Australia, and the United States. According to Israeli officials, these efforts have successfully thwarted terrorist attacks by ISIS, Hizballah, and other violent extremist groups over the past several years.