In recent weeks, all indicators have shown that terrorism in Judea and Samaria is on the decline: the number of attacks and victims has decreased, and even in so-called "popular terrorism" such as stone throwing, the data showed that Israel's offensive activity is yielding results.
Yesterday's attack at the entrance to the industrial zone in Ariel showed once again that statistics are separate, and reality is separate.
Although it was operated by a terrorist who was not known to the security forces (and even held a work permit in the industrial area of Yosh), it raises several problems, some of which require an immediate solution.
Chief of Staff Avivi Kochavi at the scene of the attack near Ariel // Photo: IDF spokesman
First, the duration of the terrorist's terrorist campaign.
16 minutes, in three different arenas, is an unlikely amount of time until the terrorist is eliminated.
This is an area where the amount of weapons per square meter - of soldiers, security guards and civilians - is one of the largest in the world, and it is worrying that it took too long before a necessary attempt to contact it was made.
Second, the function of the security guard at the entrance to the industrial area.
Although this is not a fighter in a special unit, his role is exactly that: to act when necessary and neutralize threats.
The claim that he was afraid of harming innocents sounds reasonable, but his avoidance of an accurate shot at the terrorist in order to kill him had more severe consequences.
The neutralization of the terrorist on Route 5, photo: Ehud Amithon/TPS
restore deterrence
The security forces must provide an answer to this problem against the background of the daily friction in the industrial areas between thousands of Palestinian workers who come to work and Israeli citizens who move around - possibly by increasing the number of security guards, in order to create deterrence and enable a more effective response in the event of an attack.
Third, the security guards issue.
Just yesterday, criticism was leveled at the performance of the forces (including the security guards) in another attack, in which the late Noa Lazar was killed.
The IDF and the police should honestly ask themselves if there is a systemic problem concerning the quality or training of the security guards, and if so - address it.
The main concern following yesterday's attack is inspired attacks - attempts by others to imitate the event.
This is a familiar pattern, also in view of the wide resonance the attack received on the networks (mainly on the Tiktok network) and against the background of the terrorist organizations' efforts to push the Palestinians to harm the Israelis.
As mentioned, yesterday's terrorist acted without connection to any organization, but it is likely that his death will be used to make him a model for others.
The scenes of the attack where the terrorist passed near Ariel and along Highway 5,
In order to stop this, the IDF will flood the area with forces, with an emphasis on the main points of friction. Although this is also how most of the regular army is in the Yosh, the increased friction with the Palestinian population should create deterrence and mean that if there are attacks - they will target those wearing uniforms and not to citizens
In this way, the IDF was able to curb the previous waves of terrorism in the past decade, and at the same time, proactive activity against targets for which there was intelligence was increased. Thus, in recent weeks, the terrorist infrastructure in Nablus, which was nicknamed the "Lion's Den", was eliminated, when after the elimination of some of its senior members, their members rushed to surrender their weapons and hand themselves over to the Palestinian Authority.
This activity did hurt institutionalized terrorism, but it seems that now the IDF is required to return and respond to the equally complicated challenge of individual terrorism.
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