Israel’s public security minister called for the formation of “a counter-terror alliance that includes Israel, Arab states, the West and all like-minded countries” in an essay published Monday in Newsweek.

The main motivation of terror right now, Gilad Erdan wrote, is “a radical ideology that uses an extremist view of Islam to justify the murder of innocents, whether they be Christians, Jews or Muslims.” The ideology, he noted, was once spread through mosques but can now also be spread instantaneously by social media.

In its own fight against violent extremism, Israel outlawed jihadist organizations and improved its operational capabilities. Israel also improved its “ability to monitor and counter online incitement,” and found ways to learn of threats and prevent them from coming to fruition.

Erdan called on potential allies “including Israel, moderate Arab states, Turkey, the U.S., Europe, India and others” to join this alliance. It would improve global terror fighting capabilities in three ways, he said.

The first would be developing consistent criteria for identifying terrorist organizations and then taking coordinated measures against them, in order to deny them “the ability to operate or fundraise in alliance member countries.”

Erdan noted that both the Arab League and Gulf Cooperation Council have labeled the Iranian proxy group Hezbollah a terrorist organization. Europe, in contrast, “insists on maintaining the false distinction between the military and civilian wings of Hezbollah, and designating only the former, which hampers efforts to counter the organization’s terror.”

Erdan added that the alliance must present a united front against groups like ISIS, al-Qaeda, Hamas, as well as against Iran, the greatest state sponsor of terror in the world.

The second point in Erdan’s plan is to fight incitement. That means getting social media companies to monitor the activities of terror organizations and remove inciting content. It also would mean that members of the alliance would be required to cease official incitement.

Finally, Erdan called on the alliance to improve intelligence sharing.

Israel’s experience in fighting terror means that it could “share the vast knowledge and experience that we have, unfortunately, gained through our struggle with terror, in order to save lives around the world.”

This could serve as a “bridge between Israel and the Sunni world” and lead to cooperation in other areas too.

[Photo: JBS / YouTube ]