Country Reports on Terrorism 2012

Countering Radicalization and Violent Extremism: Iraqi leaders routinely denounced
terrorism and countered terrorist propaganda in public statements. The Iraqi government took
steps to bring certain violent violent extremist groups into the political process, and made limited
attempts to foster broader reconciliation between sectarian groups.
ISRAEL, THE WEST BANK, AND GAZA
Overview: Israel continued to be a stalwart counterterrorism partner in 2012. It faced continued
terrorist threats from Hamas, the Popular Resistance Committees, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad
(PIJ), particularly from Gaza but also from the West Bank; and from Hizballah in Lebanon.
Fourteen Israelis were killed as a result of terrorist attacks in 2012. Gaza-based Palestinian
terrorist organizations continued rocket and mortar attacks into Israeli territory, and multiple
terrorist attacks were launched along the Gaza security fence as well as the Israel-Egypt border.
Gaza also remained a base of operations for several violent Islamist extremist splinter
groups. The Government of Israel responded to these threats with operations directed at terrorist
leaders, infrastructure, and activities such as rocket launching, most notably in Operation Pillar
of Defense during the November 14-21 Gaza conflict.
A Hamas and PIJ-linked terrorist cell based in the West Bank also carried out a bombing on a
Tel Aviv city bus, the first such attack in years, and Israel faced a wave of plots and attacks
against its interests abroad that Israeli officials linked to Iran and Hizballah. Arms smuggling
continued from Iran through Egypt into Gaza to Palestinian terrorist organizations. Israeli
officials also continued to be concerned about the smuggling of weapons from Libya via Sudan
into Gaza.
Israel was hit by a record volume of rocket fire from Gaza in 2012. The rocket attacks
demonstrated technological advancements, and Gaza militants for the first time used longerrange
rockets to target major Israeli population centers in the greater Tel Aviv and Jerusalem
areas. Israeli experts maintained that militants successfully smuggled long-range rockets from
the Sinai Peninsula through tunnels into Gaza, and subsequently began producing rockets in
Gaza. Israeli counterterrorism officials said Gaza militants made significant quantitative and
qualitative advances in capabilities in the four years since Operation Cast Lead. Before Cast
Lead, Israeli officials estimated that Gaza militants had 1,000 rockets with ranges up to 25
kilometers (km); at the start of Pillar of Defense, stockpiles had increased to approximately
6,000, with ranges up to 80 km. During this period, Gaza militants also developed the ability to
employ dual-use materials smuggled into Gaza to manufacture the M-75 rocket, which was used
twice for longer-range strikes against Israel during Pillar of Defense. The Israeli government
continued to hold Hamas, as the dominant organization in effective control of Gaza, responsible
for the attacks emanating from Gaza, and Israeli officials pointed to these attacks as proof that
Hamas has not abandoned terrorism. In the aftermath of the Gaza escalation, Israel is seeking
enhanced cooperation with regional partners and the international community to effectively
counter arms smuggling in the region.
On the Northern Border, Israeli security officials remained concerned about the terrorist threat
posed to Israel from Hizballah and its Iranian patron, arguing that Iran, primarily through the
efforts of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force, continued to transfer arms to
Hizballah in Lebanon. Also, in light of the unrest in Syria, Israeli officials were concerned about
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