The U.S. Is Now The #1 Target According To Jihadist Communications Traffic Since The Israeli-Hamas War

Photo from Granitegrok

From Rantburg:

The US and Europe are among the most threatened by jihadists following Israel's recent operations in Gaza.

IntelCenter's "Gaza Response: Analysis of Jihadist Statements & Threatened Targets v1.0 - 30 Jan. 2009" report illustrates how developments in one part of the world can significantly increase the threat level faced by countries not directly involved.

Since there is a well-established correlation between changes in threat messaging and where attacks are executed, especially for groups in the al-Qaeda orbit, there is a significant level of increased risk faced by those targets identified in this report. Twenty-three out of 53 statements issued by jihadists on Gaza included threats. The US was the target of 46.7% of the threats while Israel came in at 30% and Europe 10%. Israel's withdrawal of forces is unlikely to have a significant calming effect and the motivation for retaliatory strikes will remain high for the forseeable future. Terrorist planning for large-scale events occurs over a period of month and years, not weeks. The impact of this planning cycle is that retaliatory attacks are likely to occur long after the most recent fighting in Gaza has been forgotten in the West but will still be fresh in the minds of jihadists.

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My Comment: I cannot say that I am surprised.