Shabak to establish specialized school for Islamic studies after intelligence failures before Oct. 7, 2023 attack

A report on Sunday said that the Israeli internal security service (Shabak) intends to establish a specialized school to study Islam within the agency, as part of a review of lessons drawn from the intelligence failures that preceded the October 7, 2023 attack.

The information indicated that the project is being led by Shabak chief David Zini and aims to strengthen the understanding of staff across its various departments about Islam, its movements and interpretations, after identifying a lack of understanding that was considered among the causes of intelligence shortcomings.

The new school will operate alongside the existing institution within Shabak for teaching the Arabic language, known as the "Ulpan," programs of which are sometimes attended by members of the Israeli military.

The school is slated to include lecturers, experts and knowledge centers, as well as senior former and current officials, and will focus its studies on aspects of Islam suited to the challenges the agency faces in different arenas.

The report said one of the most prominent lessons drawn in intelligence circles is the weak understanding of Islam, its movements and interpretations, as well as shortcomings in understanding Palestinian culture—particularly in the Gaza Strip—and the transformations that the Middle East has undergone.

The report noted that this shortfall appeared despite the availability of intelligence described as extensive and accurate regarding Hamas’s intentions to carry out an attack on Israel.

The report pointed to specific shortcomings, including insufficient understanding of Hamas’s ideology, the changes in its hardline orientations after Yahya Sinwar’s release from prison, the integration of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin’s vision into the movement’s strategy, and the gap between members’ daily behavior and the beliefs they received from childhood.

Sources in intelligence circles said that the development of capabilities to collect information through signals intelligence and electronic espionage techniques—including intercepting calls, communications, messages and email—gradually reduced the perceived need for basic knowledge of Islam. They added that this shift weakened attention to specialized centers of expertise on what was called "radical Islam" and over time contributed to a decline in the professional level of some experts and their ability to understand the adversary.

In addition to establishing the school, the Shabak chief is working to improve service conditions for agency employees, after they were subjected to increasing pressures over the past decade despite the widening and growing complexity of security challenges.