Hamas seems to have found a new method of warfare, which counters the IDF's predictable response to its aggression.
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As long as Palestinian hostilities were centered around the security fence in Gaza or involved launching incendiary balloons or rocket fire, Israel used its automatic responses repertoire, destroying infrastructure or terror tunnels, or sometimes eliminating terrorists - inside Gaza. But no act of aggression was allowed to pass without retaliation.
For the past several months, however, the Palestinians have been mounting an intifada across the 1967 lines. Two weeks ago it was the fatal shooting of Eliyahu David Kay in Jerusalem, and last week it was a ramming in Umm al-Fahm followed by two days of riots, alongside crime waves that threaten to spill over to Jewish localities, riots in hospitals and in other places, that deter people from going there.
On Saturday, Palestinian terrorism marked a disinformation boon as part of a terrorist attack mounted in line with the "lone-wolf" intifada.
The attempted murder of a Jewish man is, of course, of no interest to Joint Arab List MKs Aida Touma-Suleiman and Ofer Cassif, who apparently believe that it is perfectly natural for a Muslim to try to kill an ultra-Orthodox Jew – or any Jew, really.
However, they do not find it acceptable that another Jew – in uniform – would shoot and kill the assailant. That's too much. That's unnatural.
The Arab MKs' reaction heralds what Israel can expect in terms of international reactions. The fact that the terrorist was on the ground at the time will dominate the narrative; Israelis will be at odds over the incident, but the Left and the rest of the world won't care.
All they care about is that, after a "justified" attack that is in line with the "occupation" narrative, Border Police officers "shot a Palestinian."
We cannot afford to take our eyes off the ball. The war on terror continues and Israel has to focus on finding the proper response to the Palestinians' new warfare. Constantly playing defense isn't smart, but it does stem from political constraints.
Does this type of warfare harbor more far-reaching implications? Highly likely.
Israel's enemies want to impose crises on it in any way they can and such an intifada is part of it.
Security forces were right to eliminate the terrorist. They deserve support and dealing with the Left and the Palestinians' propaganda has to be pushed up the ladder – it is up to the top police brass, the public security minister and the prime minister to deal with. Public Security Minister Omer Barlev would be wise to neutralize the media mess as the Border Police officers neutralized the terrorist on the ground.
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