Belgium Can Learn From Israel in Fighting Terror, Observers Say
As Belgium reels from the deadly terror attacks in Brussels on Tuesday, March 22, some experts say it should look to Israel for guidance in confronting the threat.
“I think Israel can help, mainly in intelligence, with the knowledge that we already have,” Dr. Amira Halperin of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace told Tazpit Press Service (TPS).
Israel has developed sophisticated tactics and strategies to combat terrorism, having faced waves of suicide bombings, kidnappings, stabbings, and rocket attacks over the course of several decades.
“We also come with an understanding that what’s happening in Israel is now happening in Belgium, and we can therefore relate to the roots of the problem as the same people with the same ideology,” Halperin added. “We also have very experienced people who can help explain the situation to Belgium and provide them with an overall picture.”
That type of support appears to be critical for Belgium, according to Ronen Gal-El, an Israeli temporarily working in the country. Gar-El is originally from Israel’s southern region that has frequently been a target of indiscriminate rocket fire from the neighboring Gaza Strip.
In a stroke of luck, Gal-El’s wife, who is employed near the location of the second terror attack, was late for work Tuesday morning. However, Gal-El stressed that security authorities in Belgium seemed to be completely unaware of how to deal with terrorism properly.
“One of the things that is really hitting me here is that you cannot trust the security authorities to handle the situation, and that’s what’s scaring me,” Gal-El told TPS.
“I’m not scared of the lone person who is trying to commit the suicide attacks but more the reaction of the authorities here,” Gal-El continued. “They don’t know what to do, and it feels like they’re panicking.”
According to Gal-El, he is not the only Israeli in Belgium who lacks trust in the Belgian security authorities to best handle the current situation in the country.
“I know a couple of Israelis working in my company, and I have to admit that some of them went to get their kids from school,” said Gal-El to TPS after the terror attack. “That gives you an idea about the security in school and that they don’t trust the security.”
“I would say, probably, I feel safer in Israel because I know that they don’t have the intelligence here that they do in Israel,” Gal-El added to TPS. “They don’t have the security forces that are really trained to actually do something about it, and that’s the big difference.”
Cameron Pearl contributed to this report.