Sagit Yehoshua

Sagit Yehoshua is a terrorism researcher and PhD student at Kings College London in the Department of War Studies. She is also a lecturer at Bar Ilan University in the Department of Criminology and a research fellow at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya.

She was an Atkin Research Fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) at King's College London in winter 2009.

Yehoshua holds a Bachelors degree in criminology and Middle East studies and a Masters degree in applied criminology from Bar-Ilan University in Israel, where she is started studying for a doctorate, before transferring to Kings College:

her dissertation subject being Profiles of Leaders of Terrorist Groups. Sagit has focused her studies on the psychology of terrorism and the profiles of terrorist groups and leaders. The research has involved years of interviewing the leaders of major terrorist organisations in Israeli prisons.

Yehoshua's Phd supervisors are John Gearson and Michael Rainsborough.

Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya

Yehoshua's biography on the website of the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism and the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya says she concentrates 'on Islamic terrorism and Palestinian prisoners' and 'specializes in the psychology of terrorism'.

In September 2009 she took part in a workshop entitled "Is the Prison System Rehabilitating Terrorists or Radicalizing Them? - Challenges of Working with Imprisoned Terrorists" at the World Summit on Counter Terrorism: Terrorism's Global Impact - ICT's 9th International Conference on 9th September 2009.

She told the meeting that the leaders she interviewed did not typically have an anti-social personality:

There is no specific terrorist personality because it is such a big phenomenon which needs a lot of research but I believe that I got inside their mind, it would allow me to know how they act and give me and the IPS {Israeli Prison Service] more tools.

She went on to describe the conditions necessary for the Israeli Prison Service to influence imprisoned Palestinian leaders:

After talking with them for so many years, I found that they go through a process of moderation but they need some factors: length of time in prison - they need time where they are out of influence from outside; negotiations and dialogue with the prison and management and person - first time they see someone from Israel not through the media. When they continue to do that, they see it is possible to talk with them; level of acquired education - they continue their studies. Many leaders do not want to receive education from Israel as they do not agree with the content of education.

International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation

Yehoshua joined the ICSR as a guest in Winter 2009. In a post on the Centre's blog, she wrote:

I have met and interviewed some Arab Muslims, while in London for my research - usually students that came to London to study or their friends that have finished their studies and decided to stay. During these meetings I felt that even though they are intelligent, arrived some years ago from their countries and that they have a similar background, it was very difficult to conduct the discussions.

Though I didn't expect it to be easy, I did not believe that I might be considered (to be) a recruiter of (a) dark Israeli intelligence agencies every time I tried to get an Arab Muslim to talk to me or to introduce me to his friends.

She went on to add:

during the interviews that deal with life and thoughts, I had the feeling that there was some sort of barrier between us, one that I could not break, even after so many years of interview experience with tough criminals and terrorists.

It is perhaps possible that it was precisely Yehoshua's experience interviewing Palestinian prisoners that gave her Arab interlocutors pause, not least given that her research was intended to "give me and the IPS [Israeli Prison Service] more tools" and her conclusion that Palestinian prisoners need "length of time in prison" to ensure they "go through a process of moderation."

Cheerleaders

As of 6 February 2010, Yehoshua was listed as an officer on the Facebook page of the online activist group, the Cheerleaders. As of 26 February 2010, Yehoshua was no longer listed as an officer although she was still a member of the Facebook group. On 27 February 2010, Yehoshua contacted SpinProfiles editors by email saying that she was listed as an officer of the Cheerleaders group without her consent, that she asked the manager of the group to remove her name immediately she became aware that it was listed, and that she has never been actively involved with the Cheerleaders group.

External resources

Publications

• Personality Profile of Terrorist Leaders in Prison.(2009). Window to Prison- Theory and Practice, IPS: Press office. (In Hebrew)
• The Social-Psychology of Non-Radicalisation: How not to Become a Terrorist and Why.(2010). Atkin Paper Series, ICSR. http://icsr.info/publications/papers/1269013805ICSRSagitYehoshuapaper_02.pdf
• Terrorist Profiling- Analysing our Adversaries Personalities.(2011). Aviation Security International, August issue, vol 17(4), p. 20-2.

Articles

• David Miller Sagit Yehoshua tries to censor Powerbase - Again, Spinwatch. Saturday, 07 August 2010 00:01.
• Elhanan Miller, Terrorist leaders can change — if we let them, Israeli researcher says, The Times of Israel, 23 October 2012 </ref>