The deadly terrorist attack in Jerusalem on the morning of November 23 wass not just another attack. Given the near-simultaneous attacks in two arenas, the high-quality deadly nature of the explosive charge, and the method of activation, this is clearly not the work of one person. Rather, this is the product of an organized infrastructure that operates in East Jerusalem or has access to the Jerusalem area.
Hamas's efforts to improve its terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank in general and in East Jerusalem in particular continue with much intensity and constitute a very significant layer in its strategy of action, as already manifested in May 2021. Hamas is upgrading its strategy of differentiation, defined by maintaining quiet in the Gaza Strip in order to improve the economic reality there. Its buildup process continues, which makes it better prepared and endowed with more lethal capabilities for the time it deems appropriate, alongside an effort to develop the terrorist infrastructures and operate them in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, among the Arabs citizens of Israel, and even in southern Lebanon, and train them to act as a single front when the time comes.
Therefore, if it becomes evident that Hamas was behind the deadly attack in Jerusalem, Israel will need a different kind of answer in the Gaza Strip. Otherwise, the organization will continue to be behind more terrorist attacks. At the same time, the attack in Jerusalem should be seen as part of the Palestinian terrorist system, which has operated against Israel since March 2022. This terrorist system is fed and fueled by the ethos of the armed resistance shared among parts of the Palestinian public, especially the younger generation, who seek to shake off the existing order, which in their eyes, includes the PA. Therefore, the violent resistance, which is directed toward Israel, is also resistance toward the Palestinian Authority and a threat to its stability.
Israel's choice to act against the terrorist hotbeds in the northern West Bank in a targeted manner has indeed yielded impressive results in the form of the elimination and arrests of many terrorists. However, this pattern of action creates friction with armed groups who can organize and produce their "fantasy" of fire relatively easily, document it in real time, upload it to social media, and present new Palestinian heroes every day and night.
This dynamic in turn feeds the ethos of armed resistance, which impels many young people, who are not necessarily associated with one terrorist organization or another, to stand up and take action – i.e., to carry out an attack. The “street” encourages, the atmosphere allows, and the ethos vibrates in many hearts. Hamas, for its part, encourages those young people through financial rewards, as do Iran and Hezbollah, who also assist in smuggling illegal weapons into the West Bank.
The terrorist system thus operates on two parallel dimensions or in two parallel universes. While the Palestinians operate in the cognitive realm with terrorism the means, Israel operates on the kinetic level, using military force in a measured and restrained manner against the perpetrators of terrorism. Not only is the cognitive dimension almost non-existent in Israel’s military effort, but in its current nature it serves the Palestinian cognitive effort. Therefore, Israel should consider a change in the pattern of operation and examine the advantage that a broad, focused, and significant military operation in the northern West Bank can have, whose defined goal is to crush the terrorist infrastructure in the region and, no less important, to undermine the ethos of the resistance, by making it devoid of any substance.
The deadly terrorist attack in Jerusalem on the morning of November 23 wass not just another attack. Given the near-simultaneous attacks in two arenas, the high-quality deadly nature of the explosive charge, and the method of activation, this is clearly not the work of one person. Rather, this is the product of an organized infrastructure that operates in East Jerusalem or has access to the Jerusalem area.
Hamas's efforts to improve its terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank in general and in East Jerusalem in particular continue with much intensity and constitute a very significant layer in its strategy of action, as already manifested in May 2021. Hamas is upgrading its strategy of differentiation, defined by maintaining quiet in the Gaza Strip in order to improve the economic reality there. Its buildup process continues, which makes it better prepared and endowed with more lethal capabilities for the time it deems appropriate, alongside an effort to develop the terrorist infrastructures and operate them in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, among the Arabs citizens of Israel, and even in southern Lebanon, and train them to act as a single front when the time comes.
Therefore, if it becomes evident that Hamas was behind the deadly attack in Jerusalem, Israel will need a different kind of answer in the Gaza Strip. Otherwise, the organization will continue to be behind more terrorist attacks. At the same time, the attack in Jerusalem should be seen as part of the Palestinian terrorist system, which has operated against Israel since March 2022. This terrorist system is fed and fueled by the ethos of the armed resistance shared among parts of the Palestinian public, especially the younger generation, who seek to shake off the existing order, which in their eyes, includes the PA. Therefore, the violent resistance, which is directed toward Israel, is also resistance toward the Palestinian Authority and a threat to its stability.
Israel's choice to act against the terrorist hotbeds in the northern West Bank in a targeted manner has indeed yielded impressive results in the form of the elimination and arrests of many terrorists. However, this pattern of action creates friction with armed groups who can organize and produce their "fantasy" of fire relatively easily, document it in real time, upload it to social media, and present new Palestinian heroes every day and night.
This dynamic in turn feeds the ethos of armed resistance, which impels many young people, who are not necessarily associated with one terrorist organization or another, to stand up and take action – i.e., to carry out an attack. The “street” encourages, the atmosphere allows, and the ethos vibrates in many hearts. Hamas, for its part, encourages those young people through financial rewards, as do Iran and Hezbollah, who also assist in smuggling illegal weapons into the West Bank.
The terrorist system thus operates on two parallel dimensions or in two parallel universes. While the Palestinians operate in the cognitive realm with terrorism the means, Israel operates on the kinetic level, using military force in a measured and restrained manner against the perpetrators of terrorism. Not only is the cognitive dimension almost non-existent in Israel’s military effort, but in its current nature it serves the Palestinian cognitive effort. Therefore, Israel should consider a change in the pattern of operation and examine the advantage that a broad, focused, and significant military operation in the northern West Bank can have, whose defined goal is to crush the terrorist infrastructure in the region and, no less important, to undermine the ethos of the resistance, by making it devoid of any substance.