Palestinian terrorism, both among Israeli Arabs and emanating from the West Bank derives to a large extent from the erosion of deterrence since the Second Intifada. A new generation of Palestinians has arisen since the second intifada and the riots of October 2000. They did not experience for themselves what happens when the Jews understand the gravity of the danger facing them and decide to break, through the use of force, the will of Palestinian society to dispatch and support murderers.
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The terrorist who tried to enter the community of Tekoa and carry out an attack – just like the murders in Beersheba, Hadera, Bnei Brak, and Tel Aviv; the rioters in Lod and Acre; the thugs on the roads of the Negev; and the hooligans at Kibbutz Kfar Masaryk are young people who didn't experience Operation Defensive Shield, which extinguished the second intifada and the forceful repression of the violent rampage by Arab Israelis during that period.
We are talking about a section of Arab society that is not familiar with the concept whereby cultured people "live and let live." What they are familiar with is that if they cease to fear the state and the majority they derive a sick satisfaction from the ability to impose fear and terror.
These factors can be repressed and deterred only through forceful means. "Searing of consciousness" as former IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'aon put it during the second intifada was a concept that at the time was received with typical hypocritical criticism by the talking heads in the studios and the press. But thanks to that searing of consciousness for close to two decades any major outbreak of violence in the territories was prevented and there was coordination with the Palestinian security apparatuses.
Israel's firm response to the mass rioting of Arab citizens in October 2000 in support of the war of terror launched against the state prevented wider and more organized violence. in addition to the hunt for and elimination of the terrorists themselves what is now required is an escalation and wider operations to hit the environment that supports terrorism. The elimination of Yahya Sinwar and Salah Arouri and their gangs is desirable at the appropriate operational opportunity but targeted killings do not in themselves ensure strategic gains.
The change must be perceptual: Hamas cannot be renumerated with protection money in Gaza while it instigates terrorism from the West Bank, Lebanon, and among Israeli Arabs. Jenin cannot receive economic benefits (entry permits for Israeli Arabs) when it dispatched terrorists from its midst and operates as an exterritorial jurisdiction run by terrorists. The main thing is to prevent anarchy from leaking into Israel.
A message must be sent that will resonate among young Arabs in Israel and cut short a trend that is gathering pace in front of our very eyes. Alongside the barbarity of the pogroms in Acre and Lod, which have received patriotic legitimization from the Arab leadership in Israel, recently, Arab youngsters have begun to impose fear on Jews for their perverse pleasure and to attack representatives of the state, its infrastructure, its institutions, and its symbols. They do this while documenting their rampages as they feel immune from the law. They behave in this way because on social networks a large part of the Arab community sees them as heroes and their deeds as emotional compensation for the justified feelings of inferiority.
If the Israeli law enforcement system fails to punish them severely and humiliate these hooligans, and if it does not show the Arab community, the grave, and ongoing damage that will be caused to them for many years, the State of Israel will find itself quickly facing an internal threat of dimensions that will require it to employ far more serious means against far greater numbers.
Video posted by the hooligans themselves shows how they broke into Kibbutz Kfar Masaryk, directed their gutter language at its residents, and showed open contempt for an armed security guard. They document for example how they provoked the police by driving wildly in front of a patrol vehicle; riding their horses into a café, and other such provocations. They dare to behave so barbarically because they are aware of the pitiful state of Israeli law enforcement, from the police through to the state prosecutor's office and the judges themselves.
The police take pride in large operations but they have abandoned public spaces, while the state prosecutor's office. Layer If the state prosecutor's office violates its role by agreeing to inexplicable plea bargains, and the judges hand out ridiculously light sentences. It begins with the kind of violent rampages on Israel's roads that left the town of Arad isolated and continues with pogroms in mixed towns, and if it is not put down harshly, it will end with the loss of security for Jews in their lands and attempts to block IDF forces on their way to the front at times of war.
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