Special to WorldTribune.com

TEL AVIV — Israel has acknowledged a growing threat from Islamic State of Iraq and Levant.

Officials said police and domestic security agencies have detected increasing support for ISIL.

The officials said young Muslim men, particularly in Bedouin tribes, were being wooed by ISIL to fight in Iraq and Syria.

“The goal is to not allow the group and its representatives to penetrate Israel,” Israeli police commander Inspector General Yohanan Danino said.

In an address to a counter-insurgency conference on Sept. 8, Danino cited ISIL recruitment in Israel’s Arab sector, which comprises 20 percent of the country. The commander said police and security agencies must block ISIL funding to potential recruits.

Over the last year, Israel has reported the arrest of nearly a dozen Arabs charged with planning to join ISIL or Nusra Front for the Defense of the Levant. Officials said Israel was cooperating with the United States and other countries to stop ISIL.

“It [Israel] is part of the regional effort,” Finance Minister Yair Lapid told the conference.

  ISIL wooing Bedouins, Israel reports ISIL wooing its Arab population, Nusra Front, Yair Lapid, Yohanan Danino, young Muslims in Israel’s Arab sector