1 The IDF. In the main square of Hawara, about 150 meters from the place where the deadly attack was carried out this week, the IDF took over a building under construction and set up a police station in it. Until the attack, there was only a station on the road, in a tonda, behind which was a soldier supervising the traffic The hustle and bustle of the road prevented the fighter from hearing the shooting or seeing the attack, and only when Israelis arrived and called for help did fighters rush towards the spot - too late to save the Hillel Weigal Yaniv brothers and to capture the terrorist, who fled on foot to a nearby alley.
Following the attack and the violent incidents committed by Israelis in the village, the military presence was significantly increased.
The reserve battalion that held the line was joined by the 202nd paratrooper battalion, which received responsibility for the main operational activity.
The reservists were assigned tasks on the outskirts of the village, mainly to prevent friction between Jews and Palestinians.
That is why the IDF also decided to prevent the opening of Palestinian shops until Thursday, for fear that Jews would come to provoke provocations.
Hvara is a known problem.
The village is located on a necessary axis, which leads to the settlements on the mountainside and to the Shomron spatial division.
Thousands of Jews pass by the main road of the village every day, on their way home.
Quite a few of them were hit with stones, and there were also terrorist attacks, and as a result friction between Israelis and Palestinians.
And yet, this week's event was the IDF's nightmare come true: both the severe attack in a place known for calamities, and the violent response to it.
Col. Shimon Siso has been commander of the Samaria Brigade since last September. An outstanding combat officer, who is no stranger to this division. He carried out operational activities in it as commander of the Golani Patrol, and later as commander of the brigade's patrol battalion. "What happened here this week was the most extreme I have ever encountered." , He says.
The attack came unexpectedly.
without prior intelligence.
On the face of it, it appears that this is a lone terrorist, and the main effort is to reach him before he acts again.
But instead of concentrating all the attention and forces on the pursuit and suppression of terrorism, Siso was forced to focus on preventing terrorism and violence on the part of Jews.
Here he was less surprised: "We knew that demonstrations were expected, but everything happened very quickly, even before the reinforcements arrived here. We managed to stop most of the demonstrators, but small squads came out of them and damaged Palestinian property."
The Jewish rioters did not reach Mount Bracha, the home of the Yaniv brothers.
Some came from the Yitzhar area, some from the nearby hills, some from the Green Line.
Yosh has become a hotbed for a host of extremists and disorderly persons. The incompetence of the law enforcement authorities, along with the winking of various parties (including in the government and the Knesset) give support to their violence. This is reflected in the dry data: if in 2021 14 terrorist attacks were carried out by Jews , in 2022 there was a 100 percent increase to 29 terrorist attacks, and since the beginning of this year there have already been 14 - in just two months. "It diverts attention and our forces, and it mainly could set the area on fire," says a senior official.
Siso strongly rejects the criticism that the IDF got confused in the mission, or avoided offensive activity against Palestinian terrorism. "We are the most offensive brigade there is," he says, "hardly a night goes by without raids or operations, often under fire.
Just last week, 11 Palestinians were killed in the operation in which we hit the last activists of the 'Lions Den'.
For months we chased after this organization.
We knew each activist by his name.
We had tables of who was eliminated, and who was arrested and who turned himself in to the Palestinian Authority.
A moment after we returned them to the nuclear level, the attack in Hawara came and devoured everything."
2 Jews.
It is hard to miss the fury of the settlement.
About the IDF that doesn't provide security, and about the government that talks and doesn't do. Those who just a few months ago attacked the Bent Lapid government for their failure to stem the wave of terrorism, now find themselves dealing with a complex and explosive reality that is many times more complex. This leads some of them For proposals and statements that are inflammatory and lacking in coverage, which only increase the expectations of the Jewish residents of Yosh.
"These are difficult days, but proportions must be maintained. We knew they were more difficult," says Yossi Dagan, head of the Shomron Regional Council.
"We need to restore deterrence, to quell terrorism before it becomes a big wave. The responsibility is on the government: it made a promise, now it has to deliver."
Dagan attacks the media, which according to him devoted much more airtime to the riots in Hawara than to the attacks in which three Israelis were murdered.
"99 percent of my residents know that the law should not be taken into one's hands. That reason should govern emotion. That we have one army and one law, and that only the IDF may use force.
Unfortunately, negative factors from the outside came here and caused us all harm."
The reality is more complex than the head of the council presents it.
As mentioned, some of the violators live in the council's territory.
His deputy, Davidi Ben-Zion, wrote in a tweet he published after the attack (and later deleted) that "the village of Havara should be wiped out today."
Dagan claims that his words were taken out of context;
that the call was for the government to do this, and not for the citizens.
And in general, his deputy is a loyal citizen, who serves half the time in the reserves.
"The words were written in a storm of emotions. There is no society that suffers as many deaths and terrorist attacks as ours, and contains them. But that is not the story: there is a wave of terrorism here, and the government conducts itself as if the previous government is still in office. Einstein already said what happens to those who do it again and again action and expecting a different result. We probably need to act differently. The government must turn the equation around. Start with Abu Mazen, the main terrorist, who finances everything here, and kick him out. The one who should be afraid is not the Jewish woman driving at the apple intersection, but the Palestinian leadership, and also the terrorists it finances." .
To Dagan's credit, he is consistent: he has said similar things in recent years to all prime ministers, defense ministers and senior IDF officials. He warns that if the current trickle of attacks is not stopped immediately, it will turn into a flood that will wash away not only Yosh but the entire country.
"We must turn the tables now before there is a huge wave of terrorism here. I say to the government and the IDF: act.
The people will back you."
Dagan insists that the events in Hvara do not represent its residents.
"This is more important to me than anything: that they know that we are not like that. If you knew how many conversations I had to calm them down. If terrorism breaks out here, we will be the first to pay the price."
3 Palestinians.
At the entrance to Hvara we stopped to take a picture of one of the burnt houses.
A Palestinian vehicle stopped next to us, with a local in it who asked us to accompany him to see the damage caused to his property.
In his garage he showed us three vehicles that were completely burned.
His name is Moen Najjar, 40 years old, a resident of the nearby village of Itama.
His garage has existed for three years, and he invested all his savings in it.
To burn it, someone had to climb the fence and throw in a flammable material - probably a Molotov cocktail.
"This is the third time they have tried to hurt me in the garage, but this time is the worst," he says.
"I suffered NIS 400,000 in damage. Who will compensate me?"
He says it is impossible to live with the settlers.
"Let them hate me, they hate themselves: they are bringing more terror upon them. My son, who is 12 years old, saw what they did to me, and all he thinks about now is how to kill settlers. What can I tell him? For 30 years I worked to save money to open this place, and they burned everything for me. What future do we have here? Instead of coming with good, they only understand power."
Najar takes us to see the house next door.
They tried to burn it too, but the door didn't light up.
They also tried to set fire to the adjacent building.
Its owner, an elderly Palestinian, stood next to us and lamented the situation.
Meanwhile, another vehicle joins, with a Palestinian who speaks fluent Hebrew.
His name is Aziz Abbas, 41 years old, a resident of Jenin.
On Sunday he was at work in Ramallah, and returned north in the evening.
At Tufum Junction he was caught up in a demonstration of about 100 Jews.
"They jumped on my jeep, like animals. I went into shock. I had to control myself so as not to hurt them."
Abbas, owner of a wood import business, decided to escape by traveling south, back to Ramallah.
"After I turned around, some settlers came out from behind the bus stop. Each of them had a large stone in their hand. They threw at my car and smashed the windshield. Glass got into my eyes. I was afraid they would kill me, but I managed to escape. There is an IDF position there, at a distance of 10 meters.
The soldiers saw everything, and did nothing."
He calls those who tried to hurt him "human animals".
"The people of Israel need to know what is happening here. These are not Jews, these are terrorists. I lived with Jews for 25 years, I did business with you. I have Jewish friends. With the settlers there is no hope, no future. You claim that you are the strongest country in the region, take care of yourself In our terrorists, and in your terrorists. Do something."
We asked Abbas if he sees a chance for a better future.
He laughed in despair.
"I wish," he said, "but there is no chance. People lose hope. I see you, Jew, if they hurt you - it will hurt me and I will help you. The second time they hurt you I will not help, and the third time I will already join those who hurt you. That's what that the settlers make us be."
4 Ramadan.
This week's events coalesced into one particularly explosive point in Hawara.
There are more like it in Yosh and in East Jerusalem. You have to be a hopeless optimist to think that the business will be back under control in the near future, and around the corner Ramadan already begins (in three weeks), during which also Passover, and immediately after it Holocaust Day and Independence Day and Shabbat. In other words: more Good will not happen in the near future; one should hope that it will not be much worse.
For this to happen, Israel is required to act logically.
From the head, not from the stomach.
It's complicated to do that in the chaotic reality of Yosh. Everything here is turbulent, emotional, impulsive. Dagan is right that the main problem is Palestinian terrorism; he is wrong in that he dwarfs the threat of Israeli terrorism. Several residents in his sector tried to run over a Golani patrol force this week; the very sentence This - Jews tried to run over Golani fighters - should send a shiver down the spine of every person, and make any healthy society vomit the attackers from its proximity. This did not happen in Samaria; just like in Hawara, in order for the attackers to be arrested, the Shin Bet had to provide intelligence information.
None of the settlers did the obvious and turned them in or kicked them out of the area.
As always, there is no shortage of politicians who will add fuel to this fire.
Bezalel Smotrich did clarify that the like he gave to Ben-Zion's tweet was not aimed at the actions of individuals but at the actions of the state, but the day before yesterday - at a conference of "The Marker" - he hastened to clarify that in his opinion Israel should erase Havara.
In doing so, the Minister of Finance sought to add the State of Israel and its army to a dubious list of countries, which in his opinion are supposed to commit what the entire enlightened world defines as war crimes.
One can only express sorrow for the IDF and Shin Bet personnel who will be prosecuted in international courts, if this policy, God forbid, is adopted.
Smotrich.
Retracted, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Even without this happening, Israel's international situation is bad.
The legal revolution draws a lot of criticism, including from its big friends in America and Europe.
The Palestinian issue - in which the international community shows a built-in empathy for the Palestinians - overshadows these events and makes it difficult for Israel to muster the degree of legitimacy it needs.
This could be critical if the situation deteriorates, and Israel will be required to carry out a large-scale operation in Yosh, East Jerusalem, Gaza - or all of them together.
In the meantime, the IDF is trying to close the lid on the pot. Siso talks about efforts to calm the area. The flooding of the area with forces is intended for exactly this: to deter the terrorists, and in the event of an attack - that it be carried out against soldiers and not against civilians. The settlement's demand to restore barriers on Nablus In order to prevent terrorists from leaving the city, the IDF firmly rejects: the desire is to allow a normal life, certainly during Ramadan, knowing that otherwise the pot will slide.
Not sure it will work.
The Shin Bet foils most of the attacks, and still - too much depends on luck, on the lone terrorist, on taking advantage of a random opportunity and on what happens after them. In the absence of security coordination between Israel and the Palestinians, the chance of stopping an outbreak, if it comes, is significantly reduced. This week's summit in Aqaba did try to formulate steps to increase cooperation and prevent escalation on the eve of Ramadan, but reality slapped her in the face; while the leaders were talking, the terrorist was operating in Hawara, and the Jewish rioters were quick to respond.
As of yesterday, the situation is under control, but it is temporary.
Too many negative factors, along with politicians, cause damage.
Those who keep this ship steady are Defense Minister Yoav Galant, Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and Shin Bet Chief Ronan Bar (and in all matters related to Jerusalem, Commissioner Kobi Shabtai as well), and above them Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is under constant pressure from the far-right wing in his government.
In the past, the Netanyahu governments were aware of major security challenges, and they were able to;
The coming period may invite equally complicated tests, and we should hope that this time too - and unlike what happened in Hvara - Israel will know how to act wisely, even when the blood is boiling, otherwise it could get itself into trouble with its own hands.
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