Shalem Scholars Speak at 11th Annual World Summit on Counter Terrorism
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On September 13th, 2011 Shalem College President Designate Dr. Martin Kramer and Post-Doctoral Fellow Dr. Micha’el Tanchum participated in the 11th Annual World Summit on Counter Terrorism at The Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya. Dr. Kramer chaired a session entitled, “Hamas and Hezbollah as Hybrid Terrorist Organizations.” This session discussed how the political and social activities of Hamas and Hezbollah make them different than other terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda.
Prior to the session, Edan Landau, a Researcher at the Institute for Counter Terrorism at the Interdisciplinary Center interviewed Kramer about several topics, including the prospects of internal divisions within Hamas and Hezbollah.
Dr. Tanchum spoke on “Nigeria’s Boko Haram and Islamist Extremism in the Lake Chad Basin: The Emergence of a New Trans-Saharan Jihadist Nexus” in the session on “Fronts and Theaters of Global Jihad.” Dr. Tanchum presented in-depth analysis of the rapid growth of the Al Qaeda-affiliated group Boko Haram in Nigeria, home to the world’s fifth largest Muslim population and supplier of 20 percent of U.S. oil imports. He further explained how Boko Haram represents a wider regional front that potentially links across the Sahara to al-Qaeda in North Africa and across the Sahel to al Qaeda in Somalia. Dr. Tanchum’s related article “Countering Islamist Extremist Challenges to Democratic Transition: Lessons from the “Nigérien Spring” appears in the current issue of the Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs.
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