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The Shin Bet has thwarted 250 major terror attacks, including suicide bombings, abductions and shootings since the beginning of 2018, the agency's director Nadav Argaman said Wednesday.
"The threats and challenges we face are varied and spread over several unstable and challenging arenas," Argaman said at an international homeland security conference in Jerusalem.
The Shin Bet director profiled the "lone wolf" terrorist, explaining that "He mostly acts out of imitation and inspiration and oftentimes following the radical and inciting discourse on social media."
Argaman explained the Shin Bet's success in thwarting attacks, saying, "A crushing fist against terrorism is possible and successful thanks to the combination of quality, dedicated human assets, advanced technology and unique and professional operation methods."
"The Shin Bet invests a lot in the development of technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, and this is a significant step up in intelligence forecasting to thwart intentions and terror attacks in advance," he continued.
"As a learning, incorporative, advanced and technological organization, we raise the banner of jointness and innovation, and we put great emphasis on strategic cooperation with our friends in the (intelligence) community in both Israel and abroad, with the Israeli high-tech industry and with other civilian bodies," Argaman added. "Alongside that, the Shin Bet continues with determination with classic terror thwarting work, while using a variety of collection and foiling tools."