"Research is seeing what everybody else has seen and thinking what nobody else has thought."
Nobel Prize Laureate Albert Szent-Györgyi
Research Team:
NECHAMA ALONI
Director of Research. Nechama is a recognized expert on radical Islamic organizations and their extensive international infrastructure throughout the Middle East and the Western democracies. Prior to joining MM~LAW, she served for 21 years as a senior officer in Israeli Intelligence, including as chief liaison to the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice/Counterterrorism Task Force in joint American-Israeli anti-terrorism efforts, Head of Joint Task Force on Money Laundering through U.S. front organizations for Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Her desk responsibilities included liaison with other European agencies on issues regarding radical Islamic organizations and terror financing in the U.K., Germany, France Italy, Spain, Turkey, Iran, Qatar, Kingdom of Saudia Arabia.
Education: Master of Arts Communication, Hebrew University Jerusalem, Bachelor of Arts Sociology and Psychology, Tel Aviv University Human Resources Administration, Ranana College.
Languages: English, Hebrew.
Military: Military Intelligence Corps.
Awards: “Appreciation for Dedicated and Outstanding Assistance,” United States Department of Justice, Legal Attache Office, United States Embassy, Tel Aviv.
VALENTINA COMINETTI
Director of Investigation/International Liaisons/Human Trafficking Operations Director/Senior Analyst. Valentina’s professional journey spans investigative journalism, and counterterrorism, radicalization and human trafficking research and advocacy. Prior to joining MM~LAW Valentina served as a freelance war correspondent, reporting on the war in Ukraine, jihadist movement in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and international terrorism in Kenya. Her reporting was published in outlets such as il Giornale.it, Libero Quotidiano, La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana, Popoli, and The Urban Post.
With nearly a decade of experience investigating international crimes and exposing transnational networks of profiteers, she specializes in victim identification, liability research, and building extensive evidence databases to advance accountability. Her work has been featured in the New York Times and presented to UN mechanisms addressing human trafficking and exploitation.
Education: Master of Arts, summa cum laude-International Relations and Global Studies, Libera Università degli Studi LUISS Guido Carli, Rome, Italy. Thesis: Conversions and Radicalization Processes. Master of Arts, Multimedia Journalism, Fondazione Lisli e Lelio Basso, Rome, Italy, Bachelor of Arts summa cum laude, Political Sciences Libera Università degli Studi LUISS Guido Carli, Rome, Italy.
Research internships: Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) and the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism, Israel.
Certificate, International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law, International Committee of the Red Cross, Geneva, Switzerland.
Languages: Italian, English, Spanish, Hebrew, Arabic, Swahili, French, Latin. Ancient Greek.
JOYCE
Lead Researcher/Analyst.
Joyce lead the team of researchers and investigators conducting the 8-year investigation documenting the clandestine transfer of technologies to produce and weaponize mustard gas, and nerve gases Sarin and Tabun for the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein, and the covert construction and supply of the largest chemical weapons plants in the world, located in the desert outside of Samara, Iraq during the 1980s. Joyce’s team collected thousands of documents evidencing the construction of the plants and storage facilities, all built as underground bunkers, the decades-long provision of chemical weapon precursors, the conspiracies to circumvent German, Dutch and French export controls, the construction of plants to weaponize the illegal chemical agents produced, construction of laboratories to test and magnify the lethality of the weapons, including the “inhalation chambers, large enough to test on dogs, donkeys, and humans, along with the “incinerators” constructed by German companies to dispose of the corpses. The investigations spanned Iraq, Germany, France, Holland, England, and the United States. Joyce has been either lead of key researcher in virtually every lawsuit brought by MM~LAW during the past decade.
Prior to joining MM~LAW Joyce worked as a junior researcher at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, Tel Aviv University
Education: Doctor of Philosophy, (Ph.D.) Middle Eastern History, Tel Aviv University, Master of Arts, Middle Eastern History, Magna Cum Laude, Tel Aviv University, Bachelor of Arts with Distinction in European Studies, The Hague University..
Languages: Dutch, English, Hebrew, Arabic, Spanish, French.
HAGAR
Senior Researcher/Analyst. Hagar has significant experience in researching Palestinian and other jihadi terrorist organizations, including their transnational financial networks, recruitment, hierarchies, weapons development and smuggling operations, as well as their senior management. Hagar also specializes in the connections between Palestinian and Iraqi terrorists and U.S. designated State Sponsors fo Terrorism. During the COVID pandemic, Hagar, served as an OSINT researcher and analyst for the Covid-19 Israeli Center, Ministry of Health, after working as an associate researcher for the Prime Minister’s Office.
Education: Master of Arts, Disaster Management, Tel Aviv University, Bachelor of Arts Middle East Studies, Tel Aviv University The Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of Humanities, Department of Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies
Military: Captain, Intelligence Corps.
Languages: Arabic, Farsi (Persian), English, Hebrew, Spanish.
NIR
Senior Analyst. Nir has served as a senior researcher and analyst with MM~LAW since 2002. Nir’s counterterrorism research includes mapping Hamas and PIJ’s financial and social infrastructures in the West Bank and the Gaza strip. His current research focuses on the Iraqi insurgency against U.S soldiers, their unique terrorist tactics, areas of operations, claims of responsibility, and sources of money and ammunitions. In 2002-2003, MM~LAW transferred Nir to work for the Investigative Project, a counterterrorism research, think-tank based in Washington D.C.
Education: Master of Science, Clinical Mental Health, Northwestern University. Bachelor of Arts Economics and Musicology Hebrew University.
Military: Intelligence Corps. Translator and analyst (Arabic).
Languages: Arabic, English, Hebrew.