Public lecture: The Counter Terrorism and Counter Insurgency in the Middle East

Partner: Prague Centre for Transatlantic Relations
Keywords: USA, United Nations, Russia, NATO, Middle East, Israel, Global Security, Europe, EU

The Prague Centre for Transatlantic Relations of the CEVRO Institute (PCTR) organized a public lecture “The Counter Terrorism and Counter Insurgency in the Middle East” on January 21 in the atrium of the CEVRO Institute. The lecture was opened by Tomáš Pojar, the Vice President for International Relations of the CEVRO Institute and former Ambassador of the Czech Republic in Israel. The first speaker was Maj. Gen. Israel Ziv, the Gaza Division Commander who led the fight against terrorism in the “Ebb and Flow” campaign and the current president of Israeli based security consultancy group, Global CST Ltd. His lecture was followed by Col. Karel Řehka, the Director of Special Forces of the Ministry of Defense of the Czech Republic and the former commander of the 601st Special Forces Group.

In the beginning, Maj. Gen. Israel Ziv described the development of Islamic terrorism from the 1960s and identified the key aspects of the current phenomenon of the Islamic state (ISIS). According to Maj. Gen. Ziv, the ISIS is not something entirely new, however, the global strategy of war against terrorism should be revisited because without strong leadership and comprehensive coordinated global campaign, nothing will be achieved. More attention should also be paid to targeting the flow of money and resources used by the terrorists. Col. Karel Řehka agreed with Maj. Gen. Ziv and shared his practical experience with counterinsurgency. According to him, the ISIS is not only an organization but also a tempting idea. The issues of specific tactics in fight against terrorism as well as the difference between the ISIS and Hamas were covered during the discussion with the audience that followed after the lecture.

The lecture was organized with kind support of our partners: Česká zbrojovka, International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) at IDC Herzliya University, and Mr. Petr Mothejl. We would also like to thank our media partners: CEVRO, Czech-Israeli Chamber of Commerce, and Eretz.cz. 

Speakers

Řehka Col. Karel
The Director of Special Forces of the Ministry of Defense of the Czech Republic and the former commander of the 601st Special Forces Group.

Ziv Maj. Gen. Israel
Maj. Gen. Ziv was born in Jerusalem in 1957 and joined in 1975 the IDF in as part of a "Nahal" youth group from where he started a successful army carrier. Today Maj. Gen. Ziv is the owner of an Israeli based security consultancy group Global CST, which has built a vast and unique track record in various continents around the globe, such as South America, Eastern Europe, and Africa. Maj. Gen. Ziv is married and has three children. He lives with his family nearby Jerusalem.