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The Institute for Counter-Terrorism is holding its 18th annual summit at the IDC Herzliya on September 3-5. Among the event's speakers are Minister Gilad Erdan, former Shin Bet chief Yaakov Peri, MK Tzipi Livni, Minister Naftali Bennett, and other expert minds in the field from Israel and around the world.To watch the conference in English, click "Translated" above the video. Ex-Mossad chief: Global Shia terror will not beat free world because of moderate SunnisGlobal Shia terror “will not beat the free world, not because the free world is so strong” but because it cannot “beat the moderate Sunni” majority, ex-Mossad chief Shabtai Shavit said at the conference on Monday morning.Shavit said that the flip side was that in around 45 years, “We have not succeeded at beating terror, not in Israel and not in the broader free world.”Shavit dated modern terror that Israel has had to cope with to the mid-1960s when a group of Germans joined the fight of certain Arab states against Israel, and to the founding of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). He noted that even as terror “has changed its shape from secular nationalists to global Islamists, it still threatens the world agenda.”The reason that no one has eliminated terror he said was that, “even if you win all of the battles, as long as the ideology exists – the war continues. The free world can impact its volume, but it cannot eliminate the religious ide” underlying terror.In order to beat global terror, the former Mossad chief said that the free world must radically change its own mindset and deal with terror “far more intensely than it does today.”“For this level of cooperation to be realized, the free world must reach agreement on broad strategy, legal approaches and values – there must be a universal idea about defining terror,” he added.Erdan: "3 new ways we fight with terror"Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan laid out three ways to improve the fight on terror. He advocated for increasing eyes on the streets, through both technological and human means. He explained that Israeli authorities have already added thousands of video cameras in key security areas, including Jerusalem, and that they were now able to read all license plates.Understanding the centrality of police and prisons is another step towards improved security, Erdan explained, touting his initiative for an international conference of security ministers to fight terror. The first conference was hosted in Israel and the US has committed to be hosting one as well. Lastly, combating incitement and terror's sources is crucial in the fight, Erdan said. He highlighted how Germany and the EU were originally criticizing Israel for forcing Facebook to take down terror pages, but are now requiring Facebook to remove posts with just one hour notice.Former IDF deputy-chief Yair Golan on Iran and Cyber securityYair Golan, who is on the shortlist for the choice of the next IDF chief of staff, downplayed the possibility of a regime change in Iran, while emphasizing that the nuclear threat should neither be downplayed nor exaggerated, in a possible dig at Prime Minister Netanyahu.On cyber security Golan maintained the importance of investments in new defense technologies without spending too much on the "wrong ones". He also warned of the illusion of clean, painless wars through new intel and weapons.Ex-Shin Bet chief: "Internal fight major threat to Israel"Yaakov Peri, former Shin Bet Chief and MK, called the internal Israeli struggle over democracy a major threat and stressed that some of Israel's actions are alienating US Jewry. In terms of security, he named Hezbollah as Israel's number 1 threat, but added that an unintended war with Hamas is still possible because the Gaza situation is so inflammable, tense and unresolved.Itai Brun, Ex-IDF intel analysis chief, called the Russian meddling in the 2016 US elections the "pearl harbor of cyber" and warned Israel of only focusing on cyber-attacks on infrastructure while neglecting other possibilities of cyber warfare.
LIVE: Terrorism threats to Israel discussion at Counter-Terrorism Summit
The International Institute for Counter-terrorism invited a number of keynote speakers to address its annual counter-terrorism summit.
