The multi-front headache that accompanied Israel last Passover threatens to intensify once again, after the wave of terror in Judea and Samaria and the rocket fire from Gaza were compounded last night by an attack on Har Dov.
Ostensibly, there is no connection between the events. On the eve of the last operation in Jenin, the IDF assessed that there might be revenge attacks during or after it – one of which was the attack carried out in Tel Aviv by an illegal resident of Hebron – but security officials were unable to link the terrorist who carried out the attack in Kedumim to the events of previous days, partly because he had no previous security background.
It's hard to disconnect the events
However, past experience shows that it is often difficult to disconnect between the various events. The enormous volume of incitement on the Internet, accompanied by explicit calls to take revenge on the Israelis for the operation in Jenin, has had a considerable impact on the Palestinian street. Together with the heavy pressure exerted by the various terrorist organizations, and against the background of the incompetence of the Palestinian Authority's security forces, there has been a steep increase in the number of warnings and attempted attacks.
A soldier on the border fence, yesterday,
In an effort to deal with the wave and suppress it, the IDF flooded the area with forces. The terrorist who arrived in Kedumim yesterday encountered a fighter who wanted to examine him and shot him. This outcome is harsh, of course, but preferable to harming civilians, as happened in the recent attack on my husband.
The role of the security forces is to separate terrorism from civilians, as happened yesterday. The IDF must intensify its offensive moves, as it did in Jenin, in order to push the terrorists into defense and hide, but if necessary, to be a physical barrier that absorbs the damage.
Responsibility for launching on Hezbollah
It can be assessed that this wave of terrorism will continue in the near future in Judea and Samaria and within the Green Line. Even more disturbing is the fact that the northern front is waking up again - yesterday with the launch of an anti-tank missile from Mount Dov towards the village of Rajar. The IDF could not determine who was responsible for the launch, Hezbollah or a Palestinian organization, and whether it was also connected to this week's incident in the West Bank.
Ostensibly, the meager results of the launch should indicate that it is not Hezbollah. The Shiite organization has extensive experience in lethal launches of anti-tank missiles, and this time it seems that a much more amateur element is responsible for the operation. Still, Israel should be less interested; Hezbollah is responsible for the area from which the rockets were fired (and holds it as disputed territory with Israel), and therefore bears full responsibility for the launch.
The scene of the shooting attack in Kedumim | Arab networks
After the dozens of rockets were fired on Passover, Israel claimed that Hezbollah had called Hamas to order, and made it clear that it would no longer allow wild fire without coordination. Another similar incident in such a short time indicates the lack of Hezbollah control on the ground, or confirmation with a wink to Hamas – with a clear preference for the second option.
Of course, Israel can play as much as it wants, but if it continues to do so, it will find itself dealing with reality under less favorable conditions. Even so, it escaped a serious attack last March when a terrorist with a lethal IED smuggled by Hezbollah from Lebanon failed in Megiddo, and it seems that since then Hezbollah has only raised the bar of daring and chutzpah.
The penultimate example of this was the tents erected by the terrorist organization in Israeli territory at Har Dov, which have not yet been evacuated. In light of yesterday's launch, it seems that Israel would do well to evacuate them immediately, in order to restore order of affairs before deterrence in the north erodes further.
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