Smadar Shaul
Global Jihad, Psychology of Terrorism, Lone Wolf Attack, Terrorism in Middle East, Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
Smadar Shaul is a Research Fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies and a doctoral candidate at the Zvi Yavetz School of Historical Studies, both at Tel Aviv University.
Her dissertation examines the spread mechanisms and processes of radical ideology in local networks along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border during the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. Additionally, she studies social processes on virtual social networks and their influence on real-world behaviors, particularly violent behavior. Within this focus, she has examined the social component in the 2015-2016 wave of lone terror attacks in Israel, among other phenomena.
Previously, she was a deputy manager of the Doron Halpern Middle East Network Analysis Desk, the co-editor of the Beehive publication, a research assistant at the IDC-Herzliya and an intern at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS). She received her M.A in Social Psychology.