Boaz Ganor

200px|right|thumb|Boaz Ganor
Boaz Ganor is an Israeli terrorism expert with close links with the Israeli military and intelligence services. A former advisor to the Israeli government he heads the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism based in the Interdisciplinary Center – a private educational institution in Herzliya, Israel. He is also involved in a number of other organisations with strong links to intelligence agencies, the military and private security companies in Britain and the United States.
==Education==
Ganor has an MA in Political Science from Tel-Aviv University and a Ph.D in Political Science from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. His MA was awarded in 1989, and his thesis was titled ‘Terrorism and Public Opinion in Israel’. His Ph.D thesis, published in 2002, was written in Hebrew and titled, ‘Mediniyut Yiśra’el be-hitmodedutah ‘im ha-ṭeror: efeḳṭiviyut mul ‘arakhim demoḳraṭiyim-liberaliyim’, which translates as ‘Israel's Counter-Terrorism Strategy: Efficiency Versus Liberal-Democratic Values’. Christopher Chen, ‘Piercing Together the Puzzle - An interview with Dr. Boaz Ganor’, The Politic, (no date) [Accessed 3 September 2009] In evidence to a Canadian Parliamentary Subcommittee Ganor explained the thrust of his Ph.D thesis as follows:
What we see here is maybe one of the best examples of the democratic dilemma in counterterrorism. What is the democratic dilemma in counterterrorism? It's how one can be effective in counterterrorism on the one hand and guard liberal democratic
values on the other hand. Whether we like it or not, my friends, there is a contradiction between the two. House of Commons Subcommittee on Public Safety and National Security of the Standing Committee on Justice, Human Rights, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Evidence 2 November 2005
==Career==
Ganor was awarded his Masters in 1989, when he would have been in his late 20s. During the early 1990s he served as an Israeli government advisor, and authored a number of articles on ‘terrorism’. In November 1991 Ganor wrote an article for the Israeli think-tank the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs entitled ‘Syria and Terrorism’. An editor’s note accompanying the article read: ‘After Syria's appearance at the Madrid Peace Conference, we must remind ourselves with whom Israel must deal. The U.S. needs to be reminded, too; hence, this Special Report.’ Boaz Ganor, ‘Syria and Terrorism’, Survey of Arab Affairs, SAA:26 8 Kislev 5752 / 15 November 1991 He wrote similar articles on Hamas in 1992 and Islamic Jihad in 1993. Boaz Ganor, ‘Hamas – The Islamic Resistance Movement in the Territories’, Survey of Arab Affairs, SAA:27 28 Shevat 5752 / 2 February 1992; Boaz Ganor, ‘The Islamic Jihad: The Imperative of Holy War’ Survey of Arab Affairs, SAA:31 24 Shevat 5753 / 15 February 1993 The contributor notes for these articles described Ganor as ‘a researcher specializing in terrorism and a member of the editorial board of Matara, The Israeli Magazine for Intelligence, Weapons, Military and Security.’
There are only a handful of English language references to Matara magazine, but these sparse references suggest that (as you would expect from a magazine ‘for Intelligence, Weapons, Military and Security’) it had a right-wing militaristic attitude to the Arab-Israeli conflict. In 1990 the Jerusalem Post ran a story quoting the editor of Matara following a bus explosion in Egypt. The article also quoted the veteran Israeli terrorism expert Ariel Merari as saying: ‘There is no proof that there is a connection with Palestinians.’ The editor of Matara disagreed claiming: ‘There is a connection between all the terrorists... Egyptian Revolution or Islamic Jihad, Gazan or Iranian, it's all the same thing.’ Jon Immanuel, ‘No Palestinian link to attack, says expert’, Jerusalem Post, 6 February 1990 In 1991 Matara published a ‘Who’s Who’ of Hamas members (then a little known group) which was referred to in a 1993 Associated Press report. The Associated Press was reporting on the summary expulsion of 399 Palestinians from the occupied territories – an act criticised by human rights groups. G.G. LaBelle, ‘The Deportees and Hamas: Who And What Are They?’, Associated Press, 7 February 1993 According to the Associated Press:
Matara listed about 30 supposed activists. Some are in the latest batch of deportees, others were exiled earlier or imprisoned and a few are still in their homes.The ‘Who's Who’ says little more about the newly exiled Palestinians than the deportation orders, which simply accused them of being ‘inciters.’Matara’s most specific accusation is that deportee Nizar Abdallah ‘made contact’ with the Hamas squad that kidnapped an Israeli soldier in 1989 and later killed him. G.G. LaBelle, ‘The Deportees and Hamas: Who And What Are They?’, Associated Press, 7 February 1993
Ganor’s speaker’s biography on the website of the Milken Institute states that he was ‘counter-terrorism coordinator at the Prime Minister’s office from 1993-1996’. Another CV adds that he has been an ‘advisor on Counter-Terrorism topics to the Israeli Ministry of Defense… Israel's National Security Council, and the Israeli Ministry of Transportation’. No date is given for these appointments except to say this was ‘during the peace talks with Jordan’. of <www.ict.org.il/Biographies/DrBoazGanor/tabid/152/Default.aspx> created 3 September 2009 Israel and Jordon were parties to the Middle East peace talks which began in Madrid in November 1991, and the two countries signed a peace treaty on 26 October 1994. Ganor’s advisory roles therefore would have been held at some point between those two dates and probably during 1994, since otherwise he would most likely have referred to some involvement in the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords.
A 1995 article in the Jerusalem Post referred to Ganor as an ‘associate policy analyst at the Jerusalem-based nonpartisan Shalem Center, and a researcher on terrorism’. Steve Rodan, ‘How is Arafat's promise different from any others?’, Jerusalem Post, 14 April 1995 In 1996 he is referred to in an article as ‘a researcher on terrorism at Hebrew University’, Steve Rodan, ‘Shaky Soloist’, Jerusalem Post, 15 November 1996 and shortly afterwards in February 1997 he was called the ‘academic director of the Herzliya- based International Institute for Counter-Terrorism’. Steve Rodan, ‘The quiet before the storm’, Jerusalem Post, 28 February 1997 It would appear therefore that Ganor began studying for his Ph.D in the mid-90s whilst also heading the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism.
=== International Institute for Counter-Terrorism ===
Since 1996 Ganor has headed the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism, a terrorism research institute based in the Interdisciplinary Center – a private educational institution in Herzliya, Israel. The Interdisciplinary Center or IDC was founded in 1994 by Professor Uriel Reichman, a law professor formerly of Tel Aviv University. Its School of Law opened in 1994, and its Business School in October 1995. IDC Herzliya Website, 20 January 1997, accessed from the Internet Archive on 30 July 2009 According to its own literature, IDC’s International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) was founded a year later in 1996 by Boaz Ganor, the former head of Mossad Shabtai Shavit, IDC’s founder Uriel Reichman and a number of other figures. The first English language reference to Ganor being at ICT was in the Jerusalem Post in February 1997. Steve Rodan, ‘The quiet before the storm’, Jerusalem Post, 28 February 1997
===International connections===
Ganor is linked to a network of government affiliated terrorism experts in Britain and the United States centred around the RAND Corporation, the University of St. Andrews, and King’s College London.
He is a Senior Fellow at the Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism (MIPT), of <www.ict.org.il/Biographies/DrBoazGanor/tabid/152/Default.aspx> created 3 September 2009 a think-tank conceived in the aftermath of the 1995 Oklahoma Bombing. MIPT has been funded through the Office for Domestic Preparedness (ODP) in the Department of Homeland Security and has links to the RAND Corporation and numerous other corporate security companies. Other Senior Fellows at MIPT have included RAND’s original terrorism expert Brian Jenkins and Rohan Gunaratna and Alex Schmid; both of whom have been involved in the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at St. Andrews. 
Ganor is also a 'friend' of the boards of the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange (GILEE) and the International Law Enforcement Enterprise (ILEE) both based in the Department of Justice at Georgia State University. from Robert R. Friedmann, Pd.D. to the Chief of Police, Miami Police Department, 9 March 2009 Both were founded by Robert Friedmann and led to the former head of Shin Bet, Avi Dichter visiting Georgian police officers. The GILEE is one of the founding members of the The International Counter-Terrorism Academic Community Affiliation, Initiatives, Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange, Accessed 15-September-2009 which is part of the Ganor's International Institute for Counter-Terrorism.
Ganor is also a member of the International Advisory Council of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, of <www.ict.org.il/Biographies/DrBoazGanor/tabid/152/Default.aspx> created 3 September 2009 a Singapore based institute headed by Rohan Gunaratna. Other members of the International Advisory Council have included former University of St. Andrews figures like Michael Chandler, Bruce Hoffman and David Veness (a former Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police), the former head of MI6 Richard Dearlove, and the American neoconservative Matthew Levitt.
Ganor is also involved in the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence (ICSR), of <www.ict.org.il/Biographies/DrBoazGanor/tabid/152/Default.aspx> created 3 September 2009 a terrorism research institute based at King’s College London.
ICSR is a collaboration between King's College, the University of Pennsylvania in the United States, the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya in Israel and the Regional Center on Conflict Prevention in Jordan. Ganor represents the Interdisciplinary Centre as one of the ICSR’s four ‘Academic Partners’ (along with Lawrence Freedman of King’s College London, Yasar Qatarneh of the Regional Center on Conflict Prevention and Harvey Rubin of the University of Pennsylvania).
In an interview with the Yale student magazine The Politic, Ganor referred to the Canadian Zionist Irwin Cotler as ‘a good friend of mine’. He says he met Cotler ‘20 years ago, when he was a professor of human rights law at McGill University in Canada.’ Christopher Chen, ‘Piercing Together the Puzzle - An interview with Dr. Boaz Ganor’, The Politic [Accessed 3 September 2009] Cotler has been described by the political activist Howard Galganov as ‘a totally unabashed defender and supporter of Israel’.Howard Galganov, An observation from Howard Galganov, Galganov.com, accessed March 2009 Fellow pro-Israeli activist and lawyer Alan Dershowitz, in his book Chutzpah, described Irwin Cotler as his ‘Canadian mirror image’.Howard Galganov, An observation from Howard Galganov, Galganov.com, accessed March 2009
==Influence in media and academia==
Out of 437 terrorism experts surveyed, Ganor was found to be the 42nd most prominent in the Major World Print Media The LexisNexis Major World Newspapers group file which was used for the search contains over 40 full-text newspapers from around the world. According to LexisNexis the papers included “are generally regarded by the reading public as those giving the most comprehensive and reliable coverage”. A full list of sources is provided on the page displaying the Major World Newspapers List between 2000 and 2007, appearing in 144 articles. see Major World Newspapers List for more details 
As of 3 September 2009 the online academic database ISI Web of Knowledge listed only one article by Ganor. Search: Author=(Ganor B), Timespan=All Years. The article entitled, ‘Terrorist organization typologies and the probability of a boomerang effect’ was published in Studies in Conflict and Terrorism in 2008. Boaz Ganor, , ‘Terrorist organization typologies and the probability of a boomerang effect’, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, Volume: 31 Issue: 4, pp. 269–283 Published: 2008 At that time the article had not been cited by any other publication in the ISI Web of Knowledge databases. The Editor-In-Chief of Studies in Conflict and Terrorism is Bruce Hoffman and its board is made up of a number of other figures from RAND and the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at St. Andrews. It also includes Peter Neumann, affiliated to Ganor through the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence. see page on Studies in Conflict and Terrorism and ‘International connections’ section above for more details
==Moves to abolish protection of civilians in international law==
“I expect that the proposals will be opposed by those who see this superficially as an attempt by the United States and Israel to gain legitimacy for their actions.” – Boaz Ganor quoted Ron Friedman, ‘US, Israeli researchers work to change laws of war’, Jerusalem Post, 12 July 2007
During the course of the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, Israel came under intense international criticism for inflicting substantial civilian casualties and inflicting widespread damage on civilian infrastructure. Its actions were criticised as ‘disproportionate’ and therefore a violation of the Geneva Conventions.
During the conflict Ganor had dinner in Chicago with the Dean of Syracuse University Mitchel Wallerstein. The two men agreed that, as Ganor put it the Geneva Conventions needed ‘fine-tuning’ for ‘the asymmetric battlefield’, ‘especially in light of the current threats to [Israel and the US].’ quoted Ron Friedman, ‘US, Israeli researchers work to change laws of war’, Jerusalem Post, 12 July 2007 Ganor is quoted as saying, ‘We talked about the frustration we had over how the world was relating to the war, mainly the claim that Israel wasn't responding with “proportionality.”’ quoted in Howard Friel, ‘Changing the laws of war: conference seeks to legitimize civilian’, National Catholic Reporter, 5 October 2007
According to the Jerusalem Post the meeting between Ganor and Wallerstein ‘led to a series of international video conferences, in which primary avenues for research were identified.’ Ron Friedman, ‘US, Israeli researchers work to change laws of war’, Jerusalem Post, 12 July 2007 On 9-10 July 2007 the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya hosted a two day ‘workshop’ entitled ‘New Battlefields, Old Laws, From the Hague Conventions to Asymmetric Warfare’. The participants suggested expanding the categories of persons under the Geneva Conventions from just combatants and non-combatants to four new categories which would include ‘illegitimate non-state entities’ who would not be afforded the protection of the Conventions. Ron Friedman, ‘US, Israeli researchers work to change laws of war’, Jerusalem Post, 12 July 2007 A second conference, also entitled ‘New Battlefields, Old Laws’ was held in the United States on 8 October 2007, and hosted by Syracuse University's Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism. 
The latter conference was criticised in the Catholic weekly the National Catholic Reporter, which said the conference ‘amounts to is a public diplomacy exercise to
conceal war crimes.’ quoted in Howard Friel, ‘Changing the laws of war: conference seeks to legitimize civilian’, National Catholic Reporter, 5 October 2007 After noting the complete lack of evidence that Hezbollah used ‘human shields’, as well as the widespread damage to civilians and civilian infrastructure in Lebanon, the author of the piece Howard Friel concluded that:
A conference organized by U.S. and Israeli academics would do better to focus on the major violations of the most basic rules of international law by their own governments, for which they are ultimately responsible as citizens, rather than propose ill-advised modifications to international law in order to sanction civilian casualties by the two ‘defending states.’
==Publications==
===Articles===
*Boaz Ganor, 'Defining Terrorism: Is One Man's Terrorist another Man's Freedom Fighter?', Police Practice and Research, 3, no. 4 (2002), pp. 287-304
*Boaz Ganor, 'Terrorism as a Strategy of Psychological Welfare', Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 9, no. 1/2 (2004), pp. 33-43
*Boaz Ganor, 'Terrorist Organization Typologies and the Probability of a Boomerang Effect', Studies in Conflict &; Terrorism, 31, no. 4 (2008), pp. 269-283
===Books===
* Boaz Ganor, The Counter-Terrorism Puzzle: A Guide for Decision Makers (ISBN: 141280602X / 1-4128-0602-X) Transaction Publishers, 2007.
*Boaz Ganor Hypermedia Seduction for Terrorist Recruiting (NATO Science for Peace and Security Series: Human and Societal Dynamics) (ISBN: 1586037617 / 1-58603-761-7), Ios Pr Inc, 2007
==Notes==
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