iMonitor: Israeli intelligence firm looking into Arab media figures

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The Israeli Walla website has recently published a report about a private intelligence firm - iMonitor - that has recently been gathering information about prominent pro-Palestine, anti-"Israel" media personalities such as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Al Mayadeen News Network, Ghassan Ben Jeddo, Al-Manar correspondent, Ali Shuaib, the editor-in-chief of leftist Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, Ibrahim Al-Amin, and the editor-in-chief of Rai Al-Youm electronic newspaper, Abdel Bari Atwan. 

Read more: MBS Requests Spying on Ghassan Ben Jeddou, Several Figures

The firm tracks and follows up with data published on the personalities' platforms, which have been confronting the Israeli occupation's narrative. According to their site, the monitoring aims to search for information that contributes to piecing a puzzle together that allows the occupation to analyze data. 

One cannot but see that major Israeli intelligence firms have failed in understanding local matters - as part of the psychological war, Israeli intelligence personnel and firms attempt to encircle pro-Resistance communities and populations by instilling a state of paranoia, making them believe they are being watched around the clock. Anti-Israeli content on social media has created ripples in moral and political reasoning over the past years, as they exposed numerous media and political lies and conspiracies. 

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The author of the article writes that iMonitor believes that following up on the statements of these personalities may give information that completes the puzzle, but what we are talking about here are personalities who have long experience in the journalistic work and who weigh their words very well.

According to the article, the Intelligence Division of the Israeli army realized that, sometimes, the small part of the puzzle, which is needed to complete the whole picture, is found in the media and social networks. Through a 24-hour office that monitors figures in the Arab world, intelligence gathers information, "preventing terrorist attacks on Israeli territory."

One must keep up with the fast-paced nature of data science and intelligence and realize the importance of intelligence in crucial operations... and assassinations. 

In the 1990s, for instance, the Secretary-General of Hezbollah - Sayed Abbas Al-Moussawi - wouldn't have been assassinated were it not for the Intelligence Division, according to the article. The assassination was carried out by eyeing a "small piece of the puzzle" - a statement in a Lebanese newspaper revealed that Al-Moussawi was planning to attend a memorial service of a senior official in the organization in south Lebanon. 

iMonitor, furthermore, analyzes discourse and tracks trends in Arab media and content. The information, then, is sent in the form of intelligence briefs accompanied by photos and videos to the prime minister, chief of staff, intelligence chiefs, and officials in high-ranking positions. 

In another instance, Ismail Haniyeh, for a certain period of time, spent some years outside the Gaza Strip due to Egyptian sanctions. From one Arab country to another, Haniyeh met with senior Arab League politicians in one restaurant consistently. Without Haniyeh's knowledge, his men would upload pictures on social media at the end of the meetings - with no specification of whereabouts. However, with the help of intelligence, the Israelis were able to get there. 

Read more: Iran dismantles an Israeli cyber espionage network

The images and information would be sent to iMonitor's office. Agents, working with a number of tools, were able to not only pinpoint the Qanater restaurant in Beirut but also enabled the Israeli army spokesperson Avichai Adraei to publicly embarrass the restaurant (and Haniyeh!), accusing it of "hosting terrorists".

The firm analyzes words, faces, validity, and reliability of the data and functions in parallel with governmental bodies.