While the Israeli public is divided over the judicial overhaul, more and more signs point to the fact that the next five weeks leading up to Ramadan – and perhaps the holy Muslim month itself – will be marked by an increase in terror attacks.
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Just like every previous year, the Palestinians will connect it to the well-known – and false – Al Aqsa narrative, claiming Israel seeks to destroy the holy Islam site.
Monday's terror attacks at the gates of the Old City of Jerusalem are perhaps the first to foreshadow this, that is, the addition of the religious element in addition to the national one.
Jerusalem was hit by as many as five attacks in the past week, with all perpetrators – including a 13- and 15-year-old – being residents of east Jerusalem, which has become the focal point of incitement regarding the Temple Mount.
In all cases, pictures of the terrorists taken outside the Dome of the Rock were published almost immediately.
In recent weeks, Israel has once again been portrayed – mainly on social media – as seeking to destroy the compound, with false claims of artificial earthquakes, bulldozers, explosions, archaeological digs, or fire-breathing dragons. The Al-Aqsa narrative once again is focused on Israel "capturing" the holy Muslim site and settlers "invading" it.
The narrative is mostly being pushed by Hamas and the Hizb ut-Tahrir (Islamic Liberation Party), which enjoys a lot of support in east Jerusalem, and whose ideology – at least partially – makes it a sister organization to ISIS.
Hizb ut-Tahrir seeks to return Islam to the days of Prophet Muhammad and establish a global Islamic caliphate. And although it consistently incites violence against Jews and Christians – including calls for genocide – and has even been blacklisted by Jordan, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany, it has not been outlawed in Israel.
Terror attacks by minors, in particular, is worrisome, and took security officials back to 2015 when a relatively high number of terror attacks in Jerusalem were perpetrated by teenagers. Al Aqsa was the focus of such terrorism at the time as well.
"Al-Aqsa is a religion and not politics. Maybe it's hard for the Jews to understand," a Muslim education official from east Jerusalem said at the time. "But we believe that if you are killed while defending your mosque, you are a 'martyr.' You are chosen. For children, it can be very attractive. The Al-Aqsa mosque, it is not a red line. It's red blood."
I was referred to this quote by a security official, who expressed concern that Israel might be at the beginning of another wave of violence. He noted that some of the terrorists who carried out attacks during Ramadan last year too were motivated by the Al Aqsa narrative.
He explained that the IDF would need to be proactive and arrest inciters who claim Israel poses a danger to the Temple Mount, including those with a high-profile social media following and low-level operatives.
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