A visit by South African parliament members to Samaria is making waves and creating controversy in a country considered one of the most hostile to Israel worldwide. The Daily Maverick, one of South Africa's leading media outlets, published an antisemitic-style cartoon by cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro (Zapiro) in response to the visit. The cartoon depicts delegation members returning from a "fact-finding mission" with their eyes covered by Israeli flags, their feet dipped in blood, while declaring they "saw no evidence of apartheid."

Last week, a delegation of South African parliament members – from both coalition and opposition parties – visited Samaria as guests of Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan. The 15-member delegation included Parliament Member Ashley Sauls, chairman of the Patriotic Alliance party, which is part of the coalition, Steven Swarts, Parliament Member and chairman of the Christian Democrats party, and additional parliament members. The delegation's visit is considered unprecedented because South Africa is regarded as one of the most hostile countries toward Israel and even led the case against Israel at The Hague.

Dagan and the South African guests visited Israeli communities, and after meeting with Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan and receiving a briefing from him at the "Donald Trump Lookout" at the Gutnik Center on the State Balcony in Peduel, they expressed for the first time from elected officials in a country considered hostile to Israel, open and official support for Israel and sovereignty in Judea and Samaria. They voiced sharp criticism against the delegitimization of Israel in their country. Ashley Sauls, chairman of the Patriotic Alliance party, noted during the visit, "When there is sovereignty, there will be hope for coexistence." Parliament Member Steven Swarts said, "It's important to have sovereignty here."

Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria Regional Council, said in response to the cartoon publication, "The integrity of these brave people will triumph over antisemitism and hypocrisy. Some choose to strengthen the forces of life, and some choose to strengthen Hamas. This ugly cartoon is a transparent attempt to intimidate those who dare to think differently. We will not be deterred – we will continue to expose the truth. We will build Samaria, promote sovereignty in Judea and Samaria for Israel's security and historical justice. We will continue to host delegations from around the world, and we will continue to build partnerships together, because the truth and reality are stronger than everything."

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Hundreds of mourners joined the funeral procession on Friday morning for Yehuda Dimantman, who was murdered Thursday in a terrorist shooting attack in the Homesh outpost in Samaria.

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Dimantman, a 25-year-old yeshiva student, is survived by his widow and infant son, who is a year and a half old.

Dimantman's funeral procession departed from Homesh at 9 a.m. Friday morning and the funeral itself is scheduled for 12 p.m. at Har Hamenuhot in Jerusalem.

Neria Shlomo Perlzman, 25, who was wounded in the same attack that claimed Dimantman's life, was driving the car when the terrorists opened fire. Speaking to Israel Hayom, Perlzman said that the shooting was taken place at the exit from the outpost.

"We were hit with a round of billets, and I realized right away that it was shooting. I turned the car to the left and hit it toward the road, while another round was being fired. The bullets hit the wheels and caused a flat tire, so we drove like crazy to Shavei Shomron, where the responders treated us," Perlzman said.

Perlzman said that the yeshiva in Homesh had reached out to security forces, asking them to handle the fireworks and rocks thrown at residents along the road near the outpost, but the request had been "ignored."

"I hope they won't start talking about a need to leave the outpost because of the attack – the opposite, we need to increase our presence and approve the settlement," he said.

Perlzman described Dimantman as a "very good" friend.

"I can't believe I'm talking about him in the past tense. It doesn't make sense. This is a nightmare. He always took care of his friends. He has a year and a half year old son, who didn't do anything to deserve being left fatherless."

Avia Antman, 22, described the attack. "I felt a strong bang on the left and I shouted to the driver to speed up. Someone behind me in the car shouted that the driver was hit in the neck. We called security forces on the way. All the air went out of the tires."

Dr. Ori Yaslowitz, head of the Trauma Unit at the Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba, provided an update about the condition of the wounded survivors of the attack.

"After they underwent imaging and received first aid, the two wounded men who were rushed to the emergency room at Meir Medical Center are now listed with minor wounds. One is suffering from a shallow shrapnel wound on his upper body and the second has one on his chest," Yaslowitz said Thursday night.

Meanwhile, a huge contingent of IDF forces launched a hunt for the terrorists responsible for the shooting. Commander of the Judea Samaria Division, Brig. Gen. Avi Bluth, announced that three entire battalions had been deployed to the area, along with special forces and various intelligence personnel.

Bluth said that the attack had been a well-planned ambush and that dozens of bullets had been fired at vehicles carrying Israelis.

"Recently, we've been carrying out major operations to thwart [terrorist attacks]. We'll get our hands on the cell not too long from now. We'll do everything possible to capture them as quickly as possible," Bluth said.

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The capture of the last two terrorist fugitives of the group of six who broke out of Gilboa Prison on the eve of Rosh Hashanah was successful thanks to "excellent intelligence, professional operations, determination, and the unit fighters' desire to get their hands on them," head of the Israel Police's Counter-Terrorism Unit, Cmdr. H., tells Israel Hayom.

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Overnight between Saturday and Sunday, counter-terror forces were scrambled – along with special forces from the Shin Bet security agency and the IDF – to Jenin, where the last two fugitives were hiding in a local home.

"From the moment of the prison break, we were working with the Border Police, the Shin Bet, and the IDF to hunt down the escaped terrorists," explains Chief Supt. S., who commands the company that executed the arrests.

"We were operating in a few different areas at the same time, both in Israel and in Judea and Samaria. We always knew that Jenin was the 'hottest' spot, and we were prepared for that, along with the Shin Bet's operational unit, especially as there was a clear indication that one of them had crossed the security barrier," S. adds.

At 1:39 a.m. Sunday, after the Shin Bet supplied precise intelligence, the forces crossed the border and entered the outskirts of Jenin.

"We received the intelligence from the Shin Bet around midnight, quickly prepared for combat, and arrived at the home, which was the terrorists' safe house. We showed up at a residential building in east Jenin, which is home to families that are uninvolved [in the prison break].

"The first thing we did was to close and surround the building, covertly, especially since we had realized that innocent families were inside. We used small arms to fire shots at the walls, to make it clear to the terrorists that the army had them surrounded," S. explains.

At 1:45, one of the terrorists phoned his father and informed him that he intended to turn himself in. At 2:08 the arrest was complete, with no one wounded.

"When we had them in custody we realized that we'd brought things full circles, and there was a sense of satisfaction. We carry out complicated operations around the clock. We're happy we managed to capture the last two terrorists, and end the hunt," S. adds.

H. notes: "From the moment of the prison break we were operating constantly, in full cooperation with the Shin Bet's operational units. The action was twofold: one in Judea and Samaria, to locate the fugitives, and the second inside the Green Line, to prevent the terrorists from carrying out an attack."

According to H., "the excellent cooperation between the Counter-Terrorism Unit, the Shin Bet, and the IDF doubles the strategic power in the battle against terrorism."

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A Palestinian family has turned a Second Temple-era site near the Hermesh settlement in northern Samaria into a residential building, an NGO that aims to protect Israel's national lands and resources announced this week. 

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Over the years, several mikvehs and underground complexes dating back to the Second Temple have been discovered in the area around Hermesh, as well as buildings from the Ottoman period.

According to the group Regavim, the family took over one of the ancient structures, which had already been declared an archeological site, and turned it into a private residence. 

Video: Regavim

Archeological remnants were discovered on a nearby hill as well, which experts believe to be part of the "industrial" area of the ancient city of Peresh. 

Regavim was conducting infrastructure work on top of the hill when its members discovered that the family had turned the cave into their home. The IDF Civil Administration has submitted a request to remove the eviction order arrives. 

"This is an ongoing case of incompetence and lack of enforcement," Regavim Spokesperson Avraham Binyamin explained. 

Palestinians have a history of taking over heritage sites, he said. If the "invaders are not completely expelled from the area, these enforcement actions have no meaning," Binyamin said, warning that Palestinians would continue to destroy evidence of Jewish history in these locations.  

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Security forces have arrested several suspects in a rock-throwing attack in Judea and Samaria on Sunday that left an Israeli woman seriously wounded, the IDF reported Sunday evening.

The operation, which rested on intelligence from the Shin Bet security agency, was ongoing. The village of Deir Nidham, some 19 km. (12 miles) northwest of Ramallah, has been blockaded, and roadblocks have been put in place on local traffic routes. The suspects have been transferred to the Shin Bet for interrogation.

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The victim in Sunday's attack, Rebecca Teitel, 40, was hit in the face by a rock while driving with her children on Highway 465 near the Neve Tzuf settlement. Her children were not injured.

Binyamin Regional Council head Yisrael Gantz said Sunday evening that Teitel had undergone surgery and was been given further treatment in the neurological department of Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer.

"Rebecca is responsive, but her condition is still listed as serious," he said. "I am here with her family at the hospital to give a brave hug from all the residents of Binyamin."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org

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Security forces' original suspicion that Samaria resident Esther Horgan, who was killed while out running near her home in Tal Menashe on Sunday, was the victim of terrorist attack is gaining traction, security officials told Israel Hayom on Monday after an investigation into Horgan's death had been underway for nearly half a day.

Early Monday morning, the police reported that the body of a woman who had been reported missing by her family has been discovered in the Reichan Forest in Samaria.

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Security officials suspect that Horgan's killer was an Israeli Arab, rather than a Palestinian.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Monday that security forces were "operating to capture the loathsome murderer."

In a tweet on his personal account, Gantz expressed his condolences to the Horgan family and said, "We will never accept a reality in which a person's life is forfeit."

Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan said that Horgan had left her home at about 1 p.m. Sunday for a run in the forest. A few hours later, when she had not returned, her husband alerted security forces.

By the evening, volunteers from the Samaria-Jordan Valley search and rescue squad in the Judea Samaria Police, along with IDF and Border Police personnel, a K9 unit, and civilian volunteers, had begun searching for her. After several hours, at around 1 a.m. Monday, the search and rescue team discovered her body. Magen David Adom paramedics scrambled to the scene declared her dead.

Video: Telegram

Paramedic Assaf Tapuchi said, "When we arrived, we were led to the place where a woman about 52 years old was lying, unconscious. We examined her, but she wasn't breathing, she had no pulse or any other signs of life, and shortly thereafter we were forced to declare her dead."

Police and forensics experts were combing the site where Horgan's body was discovered, hoping to find evidence.

Dagan said Horgan was "so goodhearted and helped people. How can a woman go out or a workout a minute away from her house and be murdered by scum in such a brutal way? What kind of evil are we facing? You will never break us, Samaria settlement will flourish and grow and be built up along with the State of Israel."

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More worry than they expected, as well as a sense of a missed opportunity, are hanging over the settlement leadership right now, as we enter the interim period between two US administrations.

Nearly half a million Jews currently live in over 140 recognized settlements and another 70 or so "unregulated" ones, and many settlement leaders are convinced that number could be much bigger if the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had taken the lifeline that the Trump administration threw it.

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"Another 200,000 thousand people, 25% more," says chairman of the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria (Yesha) and head of the Arvot HaYarden (also known as the Jordan Valley) Regional Council David Alhayani, assessing the "missed settlement potential."

Alhayani and his friends are heart-stricken to see thousands of young couples who wanted to make their homes in the settlements and stay there, leaving them for communities inside the Green Line because of the housing shortage.

Maaleh Adumim on the eastern fringes of Jerusalem, which until recently was a "frozen" city in terms of settlement, is a classic example.

Its long-serving mayor, Benny Kasriel, says that "Since Netanyahu's speech at Bar-Ilan [University] in June 2009, the Netanyahu government has built about 80 housing units a year in our city. Yes – 10 years straight, when the average of the governments prior to Netanyahu was 1,000 housing units per year, sometimes more."

Kasriel says that in this 10-year period, the city has long "many young families who wanted to live close to their parents. It's not Trump or [US President-elect] Biden, it's us."

The change of presidents is creating a lot of bustle among settlers, and what was only whispered during the Netanyahu government is now being spoken aloud. Alhayani and Kasriel are not alone. Still, last-ditch efforts are underway to get as much done as possible while Trump is still in office, and everyone's eyes are on the prime minister. This includes regulating dozens more settlements that have existed under the threat of evacuation and destruction for years.

"It's not easy," Alhayani says. "The Prime Minister's Office is already taking into account the positions of the new [US] administration, and trying to not annoy them at the start or appear like they're trying to make a last grab under the outgoing president."

One thing is already clear: the issue of the settlements and settlement construction will soon come up during the transition period from one administration to another as part of the nascent relations between Israel and President-elect Biden and his people. Jerusalem remembers very well the last few weeks of the Obama administration in 2016, before Trump entered the White House. Biden, then Obama's vice president, was very active in promoting UN Security Council Resolution 2334, to declare the settlements in "occupied Palestinian territory" illegal. Biden and Susan Rice, Obama's national security advisor and now a candidate for secretary of state, convinced the representatives of Senegal and New Zealand to take part in submitting the resolution, and pressured Ukraine to vote for it.

In a move considered a slap in the face for Israel, the UNSC passed a decision not to recognize any changes to the ceasefire border of June 4, 1967, including Jerusalem. Of the 15 members of the council, 14 supported the resolution. The US abstained from the vote, also refrained from exercising its veto.

That history, which involves Biden, is relevant now, not only because of the involvement of the then-vice president in such an anti-Israel resolution, but also because Vice President-elect Kamala Harris opposed the resolution at the time. Harris was even one of the authors of a Senate resolution that expressed opposition to 2334 – not because she supported the settlements, but because she thought that the resolution was biased.

That historic resolution, which the Obama administration promoted only a month after Hillary Clinton lost the election to Trump, and only three weeks before Trump took office, is now being used by the settlement lobby in Israel and the US against Trump and Netanyahu. Activists are arguing that what Obama was allowed to do, Trump is also allowed to do. They are referring to a series of urgent matters that "must be completed before Biden takes office." First on the list is the matter of the unregulated settlements.

Interim decisions

A few days before the US election, the Land of Israel lobby in the Knesset, led by MK Haim Katz (Likud) and MK Bezalel Smotrich (Yamina), held a conference that included a tour of settlement outposts. Chairman of the Republicans Overseas Israel, attorney Mark Zell, took part. Zell expressed hope that Trump would not only not oppose regulation, he would work for it.

Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin also attended, which was significant. Levin might be the MK closest to Netanyahu, "closest to the switch," as Katz put it. Levin promised to join the effort and said that "by the end of the year, we need to finish regulation as many matters as we can; clean off our desk; expedite regulation of unrecognized places, regardless of who the next president will be."

That meeting and other similar ones led to a plan of action that combines idealism and pragmatism: legal regulation of unrecognized settlements along with the removal of humanitarian obstacles that currently keep those unrecognized communities from being hooked up to the electricity grid, water supply, roads, mail deliver, and more

There are some 20,000 people living in about 50 of these communities, many of which have existed for over 18 years. The way to regulate them is to declare them neighborhoods of existing settlements. That is how it was done with Kerem Reim, next to Talmon, or Ibei Hanachal next to Kochav Hashachar.

The lobby's list includes dozens more outposts. But in many of them, the process of surveying the land on which they sit as state-owned land is incomplete. The drawn-out process, even though it will likely be completed successfully, convinced the settlers to seek an interim decision, a cabinet decision that will allow these outposts to receive budgets and basic services.

Such basic services include public transportation, water, electricity, mikvehs, nursery schools and daycare centers, sports centers and a long line of standard services enjoyed by all the regulated settlements but not unregulated ones like Har Hemed or the Nahalat Ami neighborhood of Otniel. Even the veteran outpost of Givat HaYovel, next to Eli, which was home to the Maj. Eliraz Peretz, who was killed in battle in the Gaza Strip in 2010 and hero Maj. Roi Klein, who was killed in Bint Jbeil in the Second Lebanon War, falls into the unregulated category. In recent months, the settlers have held a few meetings with Defense Ministry civil and social affairs chief Michael Biton of Blue and White. Biton is showing good will, understands their distress, and is trying to help them on humanitarian grounds.

The Mevo'ot Yeriho precedent

There are also 24 unregulated settlements that appear to have no chance of ever being declared neighborhoods of existing settlements. They are too far away, or legal issues prevent them from being recognized as such. The most obvious communities in this category are Asael and Avigayil in the south Hebron Hills, which are home to over 100 families with 300 children. They were both founded more than 15 years ago. Outposts who share that status are Aloney Shilo, founded 20 years ago not far from Karnei Shomron and named after Staff-Sgt. Shilo Levy, who was killed in the 1997 helicopter disaster; Givat Haroeh, founded in 2002 and home to 40 families and over 100 children; and Nofei Nehemia, home to 50 families and 150 children, which sits to the east of Ariel. The settlers are hoping the government will decide in their favor before Biden enters the White House. The lone precedent, is the story of Mevo'ot Yeriho, which the government in 2019 declared a new, independent settlement just before the 22^nd Knesset was sworn in.

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The chances of a repeat of the Mevo'ot Yeriho story are unclear. It would require agreement from Blue and White, but even before that could happen, Netanyahu is loath to start off his relations with President-elect Biden on the wrong foot. Only last November Biden called the settlements "an obstacle to peace," and in May of this year he declared that they strangled "any hope of peace."

On the other hand, Trump has another two and a half months in the White House, and Netanyahu might ask to take advantage of the sort time left to get as much as he can from him, not only in Judea and Samaria, but also in Jerusalem – for example, progress on plan to build in Atarot in the north of the city. The fact that Israel will soon be facing another election could influence the prime minister, who very much needs the support of the settlers and their activists in the Likud.

Alhayani suggests that his cohort ignore the change of US administration and "do what is best for Israel." Alhayani has still not abandoned hope that Israel will declare sovereignty over its settlements in Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley. Nor is he willing to panic over the future Biden administration. He says that under Trump, "relatively few housing units were built in Judea and Samaria every year, compared to the number of units constructed under the Obama administration."

Alhayani thinks that this might have happened because "the Israeli government didn't want to clash with such a friendly administration, whereas under Obama, we dared to do more."

He also thinks that the Americans "won't force anything on us, certainly not evacuation of settlements. The reality on the ground is too big for that to be practical, and the declaration in the Trump peace plan – even if Biden doesn't adopt it – that no Jewish settlement will be evacuated also carries weight."

Alhayani makes it clear that his problem isn't with "any one president or another, but with my prime minister. I am really concerned over the possibility that Netanyahu will continue to fudge the matter of settlement regulation, like he has done so far. I also don't really believe he is determined enough to carry out the hugely strategic E-1 construction plan – the plan to connect Maaleh Adumim to Jerusalem, which was approved after years of delays only a few months ago."

A different starting point

Kasriel, who recently received a green light for 700 new housing units in his city after nearly a decade, admits that he does not understand Netanyahu's approach to the settlements.

"Sometimes I feel like he's toying with us. It's not plausible that I've been waiting over a year for the prime minister's approval to add a floor to 16 existing homes here in Maaleh Adumim – that's the greater Jerusalem area, that's consensus. Not some far-flung settlement, although they have rights, too.

"Something doesn't make sense in the way that I need approval from the Prime Minister's Office for a plan to build for industry, or schools, or to add rooms, or build balconies," Kasriel says, disappointed.

"These are things that have nothing to do with the Americans or the Palestinians. I expected more from Netanyahu. Even the 700 new apartments we're building now, after a decade of a construction freeze, we're building in close conditions inside the city," he says.

MKs close to Netanyahu want to calm everyone down. Netanyahu, they say, has done more than any other prime minister to promote settlement in Judea and Samaria, but while taking into considerations the international pressure on Israel and the country's vital interests.

These close associates of the prime minister say that even under Biden, Netanyahu will continue to work for the settlements. They mention the difficult beginning of the Obama administration, when Netanyahu's first meeting with the new president (in May 2009) raised disputes almost immediately about the Iran issue, construction in Jerusalem, and the settlements. John Podesta, head of Obama's transition team, and Mara Rudman, who later became deputy to Obama's special Middle East envoy George Mitchell, even suggested that the president take steps to take away Israel's sovereignty in the Old City of Jerusalem and establish a special international government in the holy parts of the city.

Today, sources close to Netanyahu say, the start of ties between him and Biden will be much better: the US Embassy has been relocated to Jerusalem, and Joe Biden has already declared he will not move it. Even if the new administration does not adopt the Trump peace plan, it will still have an effect, especially the outgoing president's statement that no Jewish settlement will be evacuated.

Biden, the MKs close to Netanyahu believe, is not Obama. His record proves that, even though his positions on the settlements are closer to Obama's than to those of Trump.

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Barbing, who at the time was in charge of field coordinators for the Shin Bet security agency for the southern part of the West Bank, says, "Not to mince words: in the Shin Bet we call it a 'sh*tty terrorist attack.' It was a cell we missed."

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At the same time, Barbing recalls the hundreds of operations and thwarted attacks he was involved in, especially the eradication and arrest of leaders of Hamas in Hebron who were behind a long series of bombings in Jerusalem, Netanya, and Haifa that killed dozens of Israelis. The jewel in the crown of the operation was the killing of a senior Hamas figure in Hebron at the time: Abdullah Kawasme, who was responsible for the deaths of 30 Israelis and hundreds more wounded in shootings and suicide bombings.

"Taking out the Hebron leadership prevented a lot more casualties," he says. "Just like the arrest of Hamas official Ibrahim Hamad in Ramallah, who was responsible for the deaths of about 80 Israelis [including those killed in the bombings at the Moment and Hillel cafes in Jerusalem]. Hamad is still in prison in Israel," he says.

Finding the ugly duckling

Barbing served in the Shin Bet for 27 years and made it to the top ranks of the organization. Prior to resigning last January, he served as head of the cyber division and later as head of the Jerusalem and Judea Samaria district. He was there from the end of the First Intifada, followed "the development of Hamas' murderous armed wing in Judea and Samaria"; the period of the Oslo Accords and the IDF's departure from the West Bank; and led many operations in those years throughout Judea, Ramallah, Bethlehem, and Hebron. He also remembers Israel returning to the area in Operation Defensive Shield in 2002.

Now, in his first interview, Barbing lays out his insights, discoveries, information, and memories of terrorism and the war against it. He focuses on the latest iteration of terrorism, which might not be over – the attacks carried out by unaffiliated individuals. He says that handling that form of terrorism "requires the Shin Bet to reinvent itself in an area that was 'unknown territory' – the Internet and social media; to create warnings, deterrence, and defeat this kind of terrorism, too."

"Young and underage terrorists, who are not affiliated with any [terrorist] organizations, have forced us to change our traditional methods, which were fitted to fighting organized terrorism, as well as adopt new working methods and collect intelligence about individuals," he says.

"There is political despair, a lack of faith in the PA, which is seen as corrupt, infected with fanaticism and as an entity that does not benefit the Palestinian public"

Barbing says there are many and varied inspirations for lone wolf terrorism. "Often, the attackers take action because of personal and financial distress, while social media has increased the strength of inspiration [for attacks] and become a platform where the spark kindles and spreads quickly."

Q: Personal distress?

"Indeed. About 60% of the unaffiliated individuals who carried out attacks in 2014-2017 were primarily motivated by personal problems, and with women, it was close to 90%."

Q: What motivates an 18-year-old to commit a terrorist attack?

"Sometimes they're the ugly duckling or the black sheep of their family. Sometimes it's disappointed love, sometimes it's young people who are sick of their lives for various reasons. With women, the reason is often the parents' refusal to allow their daughter to marry, or a woman or girl who dishonored her family. For them, the terrorist attack becomes a way to improve their status in Palestinian society and secure social, and especially national, recognition. A young man or woman with troubles like these says, 'Well, my life isn't worth much, anyway.' Then rather than slitting their wrists, they prefer to die by sacrificing their lives to Islam and their people, bringing honor to their families and the surrounding that currently reject them."

According to Barbing, this also explains the recent sharp decline in the number of regular suicides in the Palestinian Authority. "Committing suicide the standard way is less respectable, so they commit suicide in a national-religious context. Often, we make a point of publicizing these motives to gnaw away at the aspect of heroism."

Q: But an ethno-religious attack can't be motivated by only personal reasons - there has to be a catalyst.

"The way Palestinians see it, the catalysts are many and varied. Both the attackers with personal problems and those without draw a lot of inspiration from events on the Temple Mount, among others. Al-Aqsa is a Muslim symbol, and everything that happens there has a major role in shaping the Palestinian identity. The residents of east Jerusalem see themselves as the defenders of Al-Aqsa, which only strengthens the potential for things to light up. We can also add the total lack of faith in the Israeli government's intentions in generation and its activity on the Temple Mount, in particular."

'All of a sudden, he shaved his beard'

Barbing observes that another trigger for terrorist attacks are Israel's operations in the Gaza Strip, which he says "evoke Palestinian identification [with the Gazans] and high emotional involvement."

"Of course, in the background there is the Palestinians' perception of themselves as a people under occupation, a sense of desperation, and a lack of hope, as well as economic difficulty. There are quotas on work in Israel and a high level of unemployment – over 50% among youth – and low salaries, under 4,000 shekels ($1,100) a month, on average. There is also the political despair, a lack of faith in the PA, which is seen as corrupt, infected with fanaticism and as an entity that does not benefit the public."

Q: How does the Internet help you locate potential lone attackers?

"The young generation of Palestinians are hooked up to all the digital platforms. It's almost the only way they communicate, and it strengthens bonds of friendship, romance, study, and also unfortunately the planning of terrorist attacks and sometimes even declarations to carry one out. A few even publish 'wills' before setting out for the attack. In other words, the potential attackers leave 'digital signatures' online that characterize them: Likes on sites that support or glorify terrorism; repeated visits to sites of shahids [martyrs] or sites that are heavy on incitement; changes to or intensification in how they express themselves. Even online information about someone who was pious and suddenly shaves his beard is a signal of something that must be checked out in a hurry.

"At one end of this computerized system, there is always an analyst whose job it is to assess how dangerous that same youth is and recommend whether or not he be arrested, called in for questioning, or whether his parents should be called. Everything is examined in accordance with consultations and legal authorization."

Q: What is more complicated? Cracking organized terrorist infrastructure, or terrorism by individuals?

"Sometimes it's relatively easy to crack terrorist infrastructure and bust it. We have spent many years studying and getting to know Gaza and Judea and Samaria. We have almost intimate knowledge of the clans, the customs, the organizational structure, etc. On the other hand, terrorism by individuals doesn't bring us to a single address, and usually there is not a database on the individual. Back in 2014 we realized that we wouldn't find an answer to the problem in our traditional databases, and we would need to develop new models that would provide alerts based on intelligence from new axes of information. Rather than looking for a model of the enemy's activity, we transitioned to identifying signs that indicate a change in behavior."

Q: What does that require you to do?

"We need to gather posts, likes, responses, emojis, voice recordings, and technical symbols of places and times, rises and falls in the extent of [online] activity, new contacts, people joining suspect online communities. We comb the Internet and identify aberrant activity. That's how we identify alarms in a sea of information that traditional intelligence does not supply on individual attackers. Today, we already have Internet files and well-ordered databases."

Q: How many attacks do you think have been prevented as a result of your investment in online intelligence?

"In the past three years – hundreds. With most of them, 50% of the initial intelligence came from the Internet and the rest from other intelligence sources the Shin Bet still has. It means handling an immense quantity of information. We've acquired the technological and professional skills to separate the wheat from the chaff and find needles in haystacks. From October to December 2015 we saw about 100 terrorist attacks committed by individuals, about one a day. Today, the phenomenon has been largely eradicated."

"The young generation of Palestinians are hooked up to all the digital platforms"

'My son has disappeared'

Barbing recently published, with Capt. Or Glick, an in-depth article in the IDF magazine Between the Poles in which the two discuss the issue of deterring lone, unaffiliated terrorists. Barbing also assesses the benefits or harm in a number of "deterrent measures" that have been raised in the impassioned public discourse about terrorism by individuals these past few years.

He thinks that demolishing terrorists' homes is a method that has proven to be effective.

"There are dozens of cases that I know of personally in which fathers brought their sons to the Palestinian Authority or called the PA and said, 'My son is missing, I realized he's going to commit an attack, and I don't want them to demolish my home.' We've proved that in court."

Often, Barbing says, families voluntarily report potential attackers.

"The most obvious and painful tools are financial punishment, withholding funds for families of terrorists, refusal to grant permits to work [in Israel], and limitations to movement," he says.

Delaying the return of terrorists' bodies, however, does more harm than good, Barbing thinks. "At first, I supported it, but the more we delayed the return of terrorists' bodies, we learned that it created escalation and tension, and led to the opposite results and to greater danger rather than creating the deterrence we thought it did."

Barbing also touches on how continual use of one method or another loses its effectiveness, and offers the surprising insight that the glory assigned to martyrs has an increasingly short shelf life.

"Because of the increase in terrorist attacks in recent years and because the Palestinian public has become so used to shahids, their glory doesn't last very long now. Sometimes, only a few days or hours."

Q: Does the PA help prevent terrorism?

"Yes, although we need to emphasize that even without help from the PA, Israel knows how to handle terrorism in Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem. But often, especially because of operational considerations and Israel's national interests, we've preferred to coordinate with the PA and allow them freedom of action – deep inside village and refugee camps in Nablus, Jenin, and Qabatiya, for example."

Q: What percentage of terrorist attacks have been prevented thanks to the PA? Former Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said it was about one-quarter?

"I would put it at about 20%."

Q: In your opinion, would toppling the PA be the right thing to do, as some have suggested? It helps us thwart terrorism, but also glorifies it and allows major incitement.

"Israel 'invented' the PA, and the decision to topple it would be a political, not only a security and defense, issue. When I look at the last decade, in which the PA helped us prevent terrorism – unlike the period that preceded it – I'm not convinced that going back to a reality of military rule [there] would serve our interests. We could also wind up paying for it in blood. Going back in, especially when it comes to civil matters and the Palestinians' daily lives, would cause a much higher level of friction. The current situation is reasonable for Israel, but it might not last much longer. In the end, we will have to reach some kind of solution."

Barbing also discusses the Palestinian terrorists released in the deal to free captive soldier Gilad Schalit.

"From a professional point of view, releasing [them] to the West Bank was best. There, we can keep an eye on them and grab them whenever there is the slightest suspicion that they're planning something. In the West Bank there is also deterrence for the prisoners released in the deal. The terms of the deal said that anyone who resumes terrorist activity will serve the dozens of years in prison he would have faced  with 'interest.'"

Q: How many of the prisoners released to the West Bank have resumed terrorist activity thus far?

"A few dozen have gone back to terrorism or illegal Hamas activity that does not include lethal terrorism."

Q: If you think it was best to release them to the West Bank, wasn't it a mistake to let some of them go to the Gaza Strip or Turkey? The entire leadership of Hamas in Gaza is now comprised of prisoners freed in the Schalit deal.

"We didn't want them all in the West Bank, because then we'd have seen a resurgence of Hamas here. It would have done serious harm to the Palestinian Authority. So I'm not sure we made a mistake. I'd remind you that we were successful in deporting the terrorists who barricaded themselves inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre during Operation Defensive Shield to Europe, even though they were terrorists from Fatah. They are completely inactive today."

The opposite is also true. Salah Arouri, who was deported from Israel, has made a career in terrorism and become a leading Hamas official. For years, he has been influential in terrorism while enjoying haven in various other countries.

"Today, looking back at the results of his deportation, I would rethink sending him away. Even then, he was a leader, and I prefer to keep leaders like him closer to the Russian Compound in Jerusalem than the Blue Mosque in Istanbul."

'There are knives on the Temple Mount'

Last week, the Haifa District Court sentenced Amjad Muhammad Ahmad Jabarin of Umm al-Fahm to 16 years in prison for helping the perpetrators of the shooting attack on the Temple Mount in July 2017, in which two Israeli police officers were killed. Barbing remembers the "unusual, unprecedented, and difficult" event very well, as well as everything that followed. Even now, he thinks that the decision to place metal detectors at the gates to the Temple Mount – which was made hours after the attack – was not wrong.

"It wasn't a new idea. It was floated a few times in the past, and the political echelon decided that setting them up at the gates, or at least fairly close, would require a certain level of coordination with Jordan because of the sensitivity of the Temple Mount."

The moment the Shin Bet learned that the metal detectors were creating "seismic" unrest, "the understanding sunk in that it was better to be wise than to be right. The murder of the family in Halamish on the eve of Shabbat after the attack on the Temple Mount, and the terrorist's statements in his interrogation, made it clear that he had set out to murder Jews 'to defend Al-Aqsa.'"

Q: Is there an alternative to the metal detectors, which were removed?

"There is better preparation in the field, with an emphasis on the gates, including body searches and pulling suspicious individuals aside. Intelligence has become more focused and there is early identification. But given the lack of thorough checks, in my opinion it's possible to bring knives into the Temple Mount. If there were metal detectors, I think there would be fewer plans and attempts to carry out a terrorist attack on the Temple Mount."

Q: At the time, the Shin Bet objected to outlawing the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement.

"It was the organization's original stance, but after we reconsidered everything, we agreed that it be outlawed. Today, the Northern Branch is weakened and has less influence, in part because we cut off its financial breathing tube.

"The Islamic Movement, which the Northern Branch is an offshoot of, has been confronted with the Islamic State for the past few years, which threatened its dominance in the struggle of the Israeli Arabs. We saw a transition from the Islamic Movement to the ideas of ISIS. Now its activity has been curtailed. The main problem is Europe. There, among the [Muslim] immigrants, there are plenty of ISIS cells who preach hatred of Christians and Jews."

Barbing also followed the process of the Israeli leadership's decision to increase the number of Jewish visitors allowed onto the Temple Mount in line with the status quo there. The Hebrew month of Tishrei saw nearly 6,000 Jews visit the Mount, the same number who arrived throughout the entire course of 2009. By the end of 2019, over 36,000 Jews will have visited the Mount.

"If there were metal detectors, I think there would be fewer plans and attempts to carry out a terrorist attack on the Temple Mount"

Q: How did the change come about?

"First of all, there is the political leadership. Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan wanted it to happen, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu allowed it. The status quo and the arrangements on the Temple Mount allow [Jews] to visit, although not pray there. Erdan wanted to make the most of it. Second, a wider sector of Jews have become interested in visiting the Temple Mount in the past few years. Third, we took care to remove the Murabitun and Murabitat groups, which made it their goal to interfere with Jewish visits to the Temple Mount and created constant provocations. In the overly long time those groups were active there, fewer Jews visited, but in the end we woke up and took action against them."

Barbing describes himself as a "die-hard secularlist," but says, "I think it's unreasonable that a Jew who follows the rules on the Mount can't visit there freely. The moment the Murabitun was removed, the door was opened to more Jews. We took care to put the Waqf in its place and keep its people away from the groups of Jewish visitors. Top police officials, under former Commissioner Roni Alsheikh, pushed to allow many more Jews to visit the Mount."

Q: Do you think Jews will soon be allowed to pray on the Mount?

"Moshe Dayan made the rules in 1967 and all the governments have upheld them. Right now, I can't picture a reality in which the policy changes. No Arab official will ever agree to that, and Israel would be accused of striking a major blow to the status quo, and it could send things up in flames."

'Not great at foresight'

In his article in Between the Poles, Barbing describes a disturbing reality of a "security vacuum in the neighborhoods of east Jerusalem where Israeli security forces and PA security forces have no foothold."

Q: What neighborhoods are you referring to?

"Mainly the ones to the north, beyond the security barrier – the Shuefat refugee camp and the Al-Ram, Samir Amis, and Kafr Aqab area. They don't allow the PA to operate there because most of the residents have Israeli ID cards. The police, who are supposed to be active there, have difficulty carrying out operations. Because of the high level of violence in those areas, almost every police action requires back up from the IDF. The army took responsibility for those areas because it had no other choice. All attempts to organize there demand that we change our viewpoint and operational tactics so we can improve our security and civil governability there."

Q: A lot of people there have guns.

"In the parts of Jerusalem that are outside the security barrier there are a lot of weapons. In all east Jerusalem, on both sides of the security barrier, we're talking about hundreds, even thousands, of guns. Mostly homemade versions like the Carlo. We confiscate hundreds of guns there each year. In my time, we put an emphasis on locating weapons workshops that were active in making guns and spent less time chasing individual weapons.

When asked what Israel can expect in Judea and Samaria in the near future, Barbing doesn't rush to answer.

"We've never been great at foresight," he admits. "We never predicted an intifada. We didn't predict terrorism by individuals. So I think that the freeze in our relations with the PA, which is a kind of crisis management, with a minimum of casualties and a minimum of attacks, can't continue for very long without any political solution. It won't last. If [PA President] Mahmoud Abbas is removed under certain conditions or at a bad time, it could potentially lead to a flare-up of violence. In that context, we should keep tabs not only on Hamas but also on the various Fatah factions. They aren't all the same."

Q: In your opinion, what is the future of Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria?

"Factually speaking, all the Israeli governments have had a hand in establishing settlements, but everyone has his own political opinions. In this interview, I'm not going to get into politics. Professionally speaking, I can say there isn't a vacuum. There is no substitute for our security presence there and our freedom of action there, which has existed since Operation Defensive Shield, 365 days a year, including Yom Kippur. That freedom of action led to a dramatic drop in the scope and capabilities of terrorism. Currently, there are no political limitations to any ongoing activity anywhere in Judea and Samaria. From that perspective, the results of Defensive Shield were and remain no less important than the operation itself."

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