In just two weeks, two terrorists with work permits in the settlement carried out serious attacks - in the Ariel industrial zone and at the Kochav Ya'akov gas station in Benjamin, and the big question currently facing the security system is whether it was possible in some way to prevent this attack or identify future threats.
We will emphasize that the fact that the two carried a work permit is what allowed them to carry out the attacks.
In the case of the terrorist who worked in the Ariel industrial zone, he never entered his workplace, but carried out the attack at the entrance gate.
Even in the attack that occurred today, the terrorist ran over the female soldier in a place accessible to every Palestinian, without any connection to his place of work which was several kilometers away.
At the same time, the fear is that there are more such threats, who have a work permit in the settlement or within the green line, and it is necessary to catch them before they carry out a serious attack at their place of work or in an area with lower security.
The car of the terrorist from the Binyamin attack, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Vigilance in the Binyamin area, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Documenting the moments of the Binyamin stampede attack
There are currently about 150 work permits for Palestinians, of which a little more than 100,000 are within the Green Line and another 40,000 in the settlement.
Most of the criteria are classified, but it can be said that the age factor is significant.
A Palestinian can work inside the Green Line from the age of 27, while in the settlement from the age of 18. For example, the terrorist who carried out the deadly attack in Ariel about two weeks ago could not enter the Green Line at all due to his age.
However, in today's attack, the terrorist was elderly and had no security record, so it is difficult to see how he would not have received a work permit.
The assessment is that the current terrorist is also an individual threat, and thus it is very difficult to identify them in advance.
But despite all this, there are warning signs that were on the table and will now have to be addressed.
The terrorist received permission to work in the Ariel area, and indeed until about six months ago he worked in this area, until he was fired.
Although he was fired from his job, his work permit was not revoked by the employer, and it is possible that the employer at the Rami Levy branch in Sha'ar Binyamin saw that he had a valid work permit and ignored the fact that it was in a different area.
Thus, a situation arose where a Palestinian who was fired from his job went to work in a completely different area of the Yash under the same work permit, which constitutes a security risk.
The knife found in the terrorist's car from Binyamin, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
After the attack, the security system investigated the obvious question - is this a single case or are there many employers who use this method.
The assessment at the moment is that these are individual cases that need to be addressed but not a general phenomenon.
At the same time, now the relevant authorities will have to check where there are gaps and act against Palestinians and employers who take advantage of the system to work in one place or another.
The current attack probably could not have been prevented in advance, but if the existing problems are not addressed, even if they are isolated, there may be another terrorist who has an employment permit within the Green Line or in the settlement, and he may launch an attack, while all the defenses that are supposed to act against him are not working.
The commissioner praised the police officers who neutralized the terrorist in Binyamin: "They acted as expected" // Photo: Police Spokesperson
The silence returned, but the tension in the air remained
A few hours after the attack, a person who would have arrived at the gas station near the settlement of Kochav Yaakov, would not have known that a female soldier had been run over on the spot and almost killed.
A number of Israelis filled up at the station, others stood in the nearby tram waiting for someone to pick them up in one of the nearby settlements, and only a few cars that remained orphaned on the side of the road were a silent witness to the most unusual event that occurred not long ago.
The scene of the trampling of the warrior, photo: Yoni Rikner
Despite all this, little evidence proved that something had changed.
A young man who made his way to a nearby bus stop kept looking back, afraid that someone would bump into him from behind, and in the parking lot near the gas station there was not even a single Palestinian vehicle.
"We didn't see anything, luckily," said workers at the convenience store.
Both are residents of the area and it is clear that the event left a mark on them.
Through the large window behind the counter you can clearly see the place where the terrorist violently hit the female soldier, dragging her with him for hundreds of meters until he left her on the road.
"The truth is that a Palestinian was here at the time of the attack, buying cigarettes," says one of the workers.
When I ask her if the attack affected coexistence, she laughed ironically and asked: "What kind of coexistence?"
Outside, at the station, I ran into two Israelis who were starting their car.
An elderly woman and an ultra-orthodox man watched the video together while the pumps were running.
"There is only one video that someone is watching here today. You are watching the documentation of the attack, right?", I asked and received an unequivocal answer: "Of course. It is a miracle that she is alive. If the injury had been a little to the side, she would not be with us."
When I said that it was amazing that there was no sign of the attack and the life in which it was on track, they replied in the affirmative.
"We live in a reality where we return to normal a moment after an attack. The terrorist was an employee of Rami Levy, you know? Those who smile."
The irony again.
The stabbing attack at the Rami Levy branch in Shaar Binyamin, 2016, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
A few kilometers away is the Rami Levy Shaar Binyamin branch where the terrorist went.
In 2016, the branch made headlines when terrorists ran amok inside it.
Yanai Whitman, a soldier on leave, attacked them and neutralized them, but was killed in his act of heroism.
Two years later, Ari Fold was also murdered in an attack at the Rami Levy complex at the Gush Etzion intersection.
However, this time the injury was to the tender stomach.
This is not a terrorist who came to the area by accident, but a terrorist who until recently worked in the branch itself.
The residents who knew him could not understand how the cashier who smiled at them with every purchase carried out such a horrific attack.
"I would see him every week," said Eliyahu, a resident of one of the settlements in the area.
"I would never have believed he was a terrorist. It's a hallucination."
Ataret went around with a toddler and bought products for their home.
"Yes, it's scary, but in the end reality wins - the girl needs Similac. It's true, it's scary to shop where Palestinians work, but you get used to it. The problem is that you can't trust anyone now. How do we know if he's an innocent person or a terrorist?"
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