The Shin Bet security service announcement on Monday that the terrorists who murdered four people at a popular Tel Aviv tourist attraction last month were inspired by the Islamic State group confirms the assessment made by Palestinian security services on the night of the attack.

This was not a cell organized by Islamic State that received instructions or assistance from the group. However, one of the terrorists had publicly supported the organization when he studied in Jordan, and the two men clearly committed the attack at Sarona Market out of solidarity with the jihadist group, photographing themselves with an ISIS flag in the background before setting out on their murderous rampage.

A similar explanation was given when Israeli-Arab terrorist Nashat Melhem murdered three Israelis in Tel Aviv on New Year’s Day. Then, too, it was reported that Melhem had been radicalized by internet sites connected to ISIS.It’s possible that these are the first signs of a phenomenon already seen in other countries: lone-wolf attackers or small cells of young people planning and executing attacks based on the general guidelines that ISIS disseminates online, without having any real connection to the group’s command structure or local operatives.

Read the full article at Haaretz.