There was another strategic terrorist attack – nothing less – en route to the Western Wall on Sunday. Harming Jews in that particular spot, like the murders of Rabbi Nehemia Lavi and Aharon Bennett in 2015 and the rest of the long trail of similar attacks that have happened on that path since then, is no different in principle from the riots and acts of slaughter that happened there in 1920, 1921, and 1929. Sunday's terrorist attack, like the ones that preceded it, could deter Jews from visiting their holiest sites, the Western Wall and the Temple Mount, which lie at the core of Jewish memory and identity.
The attacker was caught on the cameras that record every movement in the alleyways of the Old City, and this demonstrates how fragile Israel's much-lauded deterrence actually is. So our most urgent mission is to restore it. The best way of doing that, aside from security measures, is to resume our routine as quickly as possible.
When everything is well, Hagai Street and the paths that lead to it are the quintessential Jerusalemite mosaic of the Old City; a path of blood and terrorism and a path of life and coexistence. Hagai Street is to a large extent the pulse of the conflict over this city. It leads to the Western Wall and the Temple Mount, the focus of activity by Turkey and the Gulf states designed to pour money into ensuring that Muslims retain control of the area between Damascus Gate and the Western Wall. It is also the focus of Jewish groups like Ateret Cohanim that are slowly but surely bringing Jews back to the areas from which they were expelled in the rioting at the start of the 20th century. But on dark days like Sunday, the street is filled with the specters of suspicion, fear, worry, bitterness, and even hatred.
Until a few years ago, Israeli governments would respond to attacks like this latest one by expanding settlement and construction. New life would replace death and bloodshed. We responded to darkness with light, and by tightening our hold on Zion and Jerusalem. New settlements were founded. New neighborhoods were built. But for years, we have wavered. We stopped building, especially in Jerusalem, where construction beyond the Green Line slowed, or in recent years was effectively frozen.
We should respond to the terrorist stabbing by bringing the Jews back to Hagai Street. They were driven out in the riots of the British Mandate. Today, several dozen Jewish families are living there, busy with yeshivas and institutions of Torah study. They are an elite advance unit, but they cannot supplant official policy. The state is the one that should be taking the initiative to revive the Jewish community along the road to the Western Wall. This is the right Jewish, Zionist response, the true answer to the terrorism that tries to strike us down again and again, and has stopped fearing us.
