At a chilling time, while the news editions broadcast images reminiscent of the murderous attacks from the days of the second intifada, the IDF leadership gathered in Glilot to mark the 20th anniversary of Operation Defensive Shield.
The atmosphere at the event was relatively festive.
The participants, including Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi and Defense Minister Bnei Gantz, boasted of a successful operation during which the defense establishment "defeated" Palestinian terrorism (temporarily, of course) and brought about a fundamental change in the security situation.
Shooting in every direction on the street: documentation from the scene of the attack in Hadera
As mentioned, anyone who needs news regularly cannot help but compare the terrorist attacks during the second intifada in the heart of Israeli cities with the murderous campaigns in Hadera and Be'er Sheva.
The terrorist from Be'er Sheva and the two terrorists from Hadera, who murdered six innocent Israelis, are Arab-Israelis, holding a blue identity card, with an extremist ideology of the Islamic State.
The GSS was severely criticized (rightly) for failing to thwart these killings ahead of time, especially the attack in Hadera, in which two terrorists coordinated the operation, left a video and equipped themselves with firearms.
In defense of the GSS, it can be said that when it comes to Israeli citizens, its hands are relatively tied: according to Israeli law, the defense establishment can not listen to any citizen it wants or track any potential suspect, whose entire crime is ideological identification with terrorism. Cannot bring a suspicious citizen to administrative detention without there being very solid evidence of criminal activity on his part.
The GSS estimates that there are currently a few dozen other Israeli Arabs who identify with the idea of an Islamic state, a zero rate among Israeli Arabs, but the fear is of a dormant ISIS cell, which is in the process of awakening.
Fear of escalation in the Palestinian arena
Past experience shows that waves of terror do not forget at once, and at best we still have days or weeks of terror ahead.
At worst, the events may last even longer.
In the current state of affairs, in order to try and interrupt the wave of terrorism in Iwo, the defense establishment must act on several levels, the most central and immediate of which is intelligence.
Despite the difficulties, the GSS must exhaust all the tools at its disposal to locate those potential terrorists and use all the means it has developed in previous waves of terrorism to thwart inspirational attacks. To help the organization do its job, Temporarily, and of course also not to disqualify the use of a tool of demolition of terrorist homes, even if these live within the Green Line.
Another level that must be addressed is the issue of skilled and available weapon bearers, who can respond in a short time to any incident that erupts in the field.
The weapon with which the terrorists went on the attack, Photo: Police spokeswoman
The great fear in the defense establishment is that the terrorist incidents that are currently focused on within the Green Line will also spread to Judea and Samaria, and the IDF is also preparing for this through reinforcements.
And having said all that, it is impossible not to mention the bigger threat - the Gaza Strip.
To motivate Hamas to remain calm, Israel this week approved a significant increase in the number of workers from Gaza receiving work permits in Israel, but as we saw only a year ago, if events escalate and slide to Judea and Samaria or worse, to the Temple Mount, Israel will not find It includes itself in an escalation in the Palestinian arena.
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