Israel might soon face the same challenges it did in the spring, as the terror wave in Judea and Samaria continues as well as following rocket fire from Gaza and Lebanon.
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The events are thought to be unrelated. Although the IDF did say ahead of its latest anti-terrorism operation in Jenin that there might be revenge attacks – such as the car ramming in Tel Aviv that injured seven – security officials struggled to link the terrorist who carried out Thursday's attack in Kedumim to the earlier events, among other things because he had no history of terror involvement.
Nevertheless, experience shows that such events are rarely unrelated. The massive scale of incitement on social media, including explicit calls to perpetrate attacks against Israelis "in revenge," significantly impacted Palestinians. Add to that the pressure exerted by various terror groups and the depletion of the Palestinian Authority's security mechanism, all of which led to a spike in the number of attempted attacks.
In an effort to subdue the terror wave, the IDF flooded the area with troops. The Kedumim terrorist encountered a soldier upon arrival and decided to shoot him. The result is tragic, of course, but perhaps preferable over civilian casualties, like in the shooting attack at the Eli gas station.
The role of the security forces is to serve as a divide between terrorists and civilians, as happened in Kedumim. The IDF must step up offensive moves as it did in Jenin to push terrorists into hiding, but if necessary, also provide a physical barrier to absorb the impact.
Video: Reuters / Two Palestinians killed in West Bank clash with Israeli forces
The terror wave is most likely to continue in the near future in Judea and Samaria and along the Green Line. What is more troubling is the fact that the northern border is becoming an issue again. The IDF could not determine who launched the projectile, Hezbollah or the Palestinians, and whether it was related to this week's events in the West Bank.
The fact that the launch was unsuccessful makes it seem it was not Hezbollah. The group has vast experience in this matter and it seems that a more amateur party was behind the attack. Nevertheless, Israel is concerned as Hezbollah is responsible for the area from which the projectile was launched and as such, carries full responsibility for what occurs there.
After dozens of rockets were launched into Israel in the spring, the IDF said that Hezbollah had called Hamas to order and made it clear that it would not tolerate such uncoordinated attacks. A similar incident taking place so soon points to Hezbollah's lack of control of the area, or the group turning a blind eye to Hamas' actions – with the latter being the likelier possibility.
Israel could, of course, play pretend, but in my opinion, if it continues to do so, it will find itself facing even worse conditions. It has already been spared a serious attack in March when forces prevented a bombing by a Lebanese infiltrator.
The penultimate example of this was the tents Hezbollah set up on the Israeli side of the Blue Line. Given Thursday's projectile launch, Israel would be better off turning them away immediately in order to get things back to normal before deterrence on the northern border is eroded further.
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