Offer Baruch, a former Israeli Counter Terrorism Agency (Shin Bet) agent, explained the origins of Islamic extremism as a threat to America and the West as a whole to students and faculty at Mercyhurst College.

Baruch gave his lecture, “Global Fundamentalist Islamic Terror,” on Thursday, Jan. 7.

Baruch focused the lecture on emphasizing the threat posed by global Islamic extremism and the fact that it should not be underestimated.

Even so, Baruch was quick to emphasize the need to clearly distinguish the mainstream Muslim population from extremists and fundamentalists and stated that his lecture was in no way an attack on Islam or Muslims.

After this disclaimer, Baruch detailed the roots of Islamic extremism, or Global Islamic Revolution, as it appears today.

Baruch focused largely on dispelling the Western misconception that Islamic terrorism emerged only in the late part of the 20th century.

In fact, the emergence of Islamic extremism began in 1928 with the foundation of the Muslim Brotherhood, the goal of which has been to advance both the religion of Islam and its social tenets. The Muslim Brotherhood has gone as far as advocating the global imposition of Sharia law, Baruch said.

Tyler Stauffer photo: Offer Baruch spoke at Mercyhurst College on Thursday, Jan. 7. His lecture focused on the origins of Islamic extremism as a threat to the United States and the West as a whole.

Throughout the presentation, Baruch emphasized the lack of scruples consistently displayed by the Muslim Brotherhood and similar organizations, particularly their willingness to use violence to achieve their goals. Baruch stressed the dangers posed by the ideology and propaganda of extremism.

“It starts with words, and then you become radicalized,” Baruch said. “It is a progressive development of a mindset.”

One of Baruch’s main strategies to counteract the problem is via continued outreach to the mainstream Muslim community.

In Baruch’s view, mainstream Muslims are afraid to oppose the more radical elements of their faith, since such radicals consider dissenters as traitors to Islam and thus targets.

Enabling Muslims to break free of extremism is good for both the Muslim community and global society as a whole, Baruch said.

Another point strongly emphasized by Baruch was his opinion that extremists are unreasonable. As such, he advocates capturing and interrogating when possible and “taking out” those who cannot be captured.

In this lecture, Baruch was also adamant that intelligence communities worldwide must share information more readily.

Freshman Phil Blair said the lecture “was a very interesting perspective on current events.”

Students had the opportunity to ask questions at the conclusion of the lecture.

Baruch’s counterterrorism credentials include joining the Counter-Intelligence Division of the Israeli Security Service in 1978, becoming supervisor of a counterintelligence unit of the Israeli Counter Terrorism Task Force in 1991, directing security for several Israeli Foreign Ministry diplomatic missions and tightening security at the Amman, Jordan, branch of El Al Airlines.

Baruch is currently the vice president of International Shield, Inc., a security consultant and training company.