Haven’t we heard this before? Months ago they threw countless young Israelis into administrative detention with no charges. Many of those youth are still behind bars. So if they were involved how come no charges were brought and if they were not involved since supposedly there is a new arrest, why haven’t Meir Ettinger, Mordechai Meyer, and Eviatar Slonim and many others been released? It is interesting to note that this new announcement comes on the heels of the UN complaining that the government still has not found the perpetrators. 24 hours later there is a new arrest. There is no coincidence here. Unfortunately they have not brought any evidence to prove the state’s side. If this turns out that after all this time they are just trying to simply beat a confession out of these guys to please the UN, it will come back to haunt the security apparatus.
The government is actually handling the situation with the EU labeling excellently. Part of the reaction is do in part because the EU as an international player is losing its leverage in the face of an ascendant Russia. Also the Eastern half of the EU seems to be against the move. Given that Israel finally has some maneuverability.
Many people felt house demolitions would spark a wider conflict with the Arabs living in Israel. However, the only thing that seemed to happen were some local clashes after the apartment complex belonging to the ring leader behind the Henkin murder was destroyed. It still remains to be seen how much of a deterrent this really is, but the fact is it sets the stage for expelling the families of these attackers, which most people believe will be a serious deterrent.
What can one say when our people have such a skewed and misunderstood view of the world. Unfortunately more and more of these sorts of people exist. The idea that the Jewish State is anything remotely close to the Nazi regime is a viewpoint that is just completely detached from reality.
The problem is that the West is giving plenty of verbal ammunition by venturing into a proxy war by first funding the nascent ISIS over two years ago and it is known the State Department was also helping to organize and fund Al Nusra. The facts here are on the side of Assad, yet of course he is a huge sponsor of terrorist entities himself.
It’s all about culture. For the Arab Jihadists all members of the citizenry are part of the struggle and in return all members of Israel’s society are fair game.
Make no mistake about it: The increasing terror wave in Israel by Palestinians has nothing to do with Israel occupying territories and nothing to do with Jews on the Temple Mount. The current terror wave has everything to do with annihilating Jews and Israel.
Summary:
The last year saw the largest rise of Islamic terrorism around the world. In Israel, the terror wave is increasing too.
Several recent public opinion polls show an overwhelming majority of Palestinian Arabs support an intifada (terror wave) with the end goal of “liberating Palestine” and completely destroying Israel.
Most Palestinians do not support a 2-state solution, but would rather have Israel destroyed and replaced with a Palestinian state.
The daily incitement by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, along with the indoctrination to Jihad that many Palestinian children get in their schools, is brewing a society of hate and murder against Jews.
Palestinian allegiance to ISIS is on the rise (24% support ISIS), which explains the growing number of Palestinian terror attacks in correlation with the growing worldwide conflict with ISIS.
Contrary to what many believe, ISIS is not a direct threat to Israel.
Israel needs to do more to protect its people.
Rise in Terrorism Worldwide & in Israel
According to the Global Terrorism Index Report of 2015, terrorism continues to rise. Deaths in 2014 reached 32,685 constituting an 80% increase from 18,111 the previous year. The numbers for 2015 are expected to be even higher. Israel is ranked as the 24th most impacted country by terrorism while some of her neighboring countries accounted for 78% of all worldwide terrorism-linked deaths. According to the GTI report, most terror attacks targeted private civilians.
Interestingly, but not unexpectedly, in the last 2 months to date, Israeli citizens suffered through 30 shootings, 12 car rammings, 82 stabbing attacks, 1,617 stone throwings and 651 molotov cocktails resulting in the deaths of 22 civilians and seriously wounding 251. That’s a total of almost 2,400 atacks in 2 months; an average of 40 attacks per day! You won’t hear about most attacks in the mainstream media though.
According to statistics published by the Israel Security Agency at the end of 2013, since the start of the second Intifada, 1,227 people have been killed by Palestinian terrorism and 8,549 were wounded. (These numbers do not include the deaths and injuries of Israeli soldiers during combat in Gaza.)
Are we to single out Israel’s terrorism problem as being a result of land occupation and Jews praying on the Temple Mount, while neighboring countries are suffering a similar fate due to religious fanaticism?
The Real Goal of the Palestinian Intifada
Let’s take a closer look as to why the Palestinians are committing terror attacks.
According to public opinion polls conducted by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion prepared by Dr. Nabil Kukali and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, an overwhelming majority of Palestinians are in favor of an increase in terror attacks against Israeli civilians with the end goal of completely destroying Israel and replacing it with a Palestinian state. Only 11% of respondents said the goal of the “intifada” should be to “liberate” only those territories captured by Israel in 1967.
[The Pew Research Institute’s recent poll resulted in different numbers than the polls mentioned above, but still shows that 21% of West Bank arabs are not against ISIS.]
These poll results explain why terror attacks have been taking place in areas not considered “occupied territories” and against people not considered “settlers” or “occupiers.” Palestinian terrorists see all Israelis as occupiers and enemies that must be removed.
Daily incitement by Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, along with Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other Palestinian groups, is responsible for the constant brainwashing of Palestinians into believing that Israel is killing Palestinians mercilessly and is planning to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Abbas goes as far as to glorify terrorists, terror and martyrdom.
Even the education system in many Palestinian schools teaches and indoctrinates children to a life of terrorism, Jihad, martyrdom, and suicide attacks. How do children become terrorists? This video is one answer to that question:
The Rising Influence of ISIS in Israel
According to a poll conducted in 7 arab countries by the Arab Center for Research & Policy Studies, Palestinians had the highest percentage of support for ISIS than any other group in the Middle East. 24% of Palestinian Arabs support ISIS and more than 40% object to any military action against the Islamic State.
Respondents’ answers to the question “In general, do you have a positive or negative view of ISIL?” (Credit: Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies)
ISIS has also been trying to “hijack” Palestinian Jihad as its own. With the clear connection between Palestinian terrorists, the Jihad mentality of martyrdom and ISIS, it is obvious that the real goal of the terror wave in Israel is the baseless destruction of the Jewish people and Israel, similar to the Islamic State’s goal of destroying infidels.
Nevertheless, Israel should not fear ISIS. As Efraim Inbar explains in his analysis of How Dangerous is ISIS to Israel?: “Suggestions that ISIS may constitute a bigger threat to Israel than Iran are ridiculous. The Israeli army and the ISIS militia are in different leagues. As long as ISIS behaves in a most unconventional bestial way, many in the world will be happy to see Israel doing the dirty work on their behalf, dealing ISIS blow after blow, if the opportunity and necessity arises.”
This is true in part because the ISIS military is relatively small and weak. It’s offensives were successful largely against weakened militaries and in places with political void. While ISIS is not a direct threat to Israel, it has been successful in generating support via social media and online recruitment channels.
Most of those who carry out the attacks inside Israel are between the ages of 16 and 20, while most of those who carry them out in Judea and Samaria are between the ages of 22 and 26.
Usually, national and religious motivations influence the attacker. His decision is influenced by frustration, the desire for fame and the glory achieved by becoming a shaheed, the desire to avenge the deaths of friends or relatives, and exposure to the intense incitement in the media and on the Palestinian street.
Most of the attacks targeted the Israeli security forces (which shows the suicidal nature of the attacks), the rest targeted civilians.
Have national-religious motivations and for years have had popular violence and terrorism as constant companions. They have been influenced by systematic, intensive anti-Israeli incitement and hate propaganda.
Only a few of the terrorists were operatives of any specific organization.
How do we fight such an ideological form of terrorism? It can take years to uproot an ideology from the hearts of its supporters. What immediate response can there be to prevent any further attacks against Israeli citizens?
Looking at the findings above, it is clear that Israel needs to make it undesirable to commit terror attacks. Currently, jail time for terrorists and home demolitions do not seem to suffice as a deterrent to attack. If Israel would institute a law to deport immediate family members, a terrorist may think twice before committing an attack. If he or she knew that their parents, siblings, spouse and children would not be able to live in their homes and would lose their current form of income, then the spectacular vision of martyrdom may become a bit more dull.
In the meantime, with the holiday of Chanukah fast approaching, I pray that light will triumph over darkness, good over evil, and that only goodness will spread throughout the world for all peoples.
The stabbing spree continues as no solution has been found for the Arab “lone wolf” strategy. The strategy is to create a sense of randomness in the attacks. This keeps security forces guessing and the population on its toes. Of course we all know that none of this is random or lone wolf. This is not to say that higher ups are planning each one out, but the Imams are deliberately juicing up the street to go out and kill. It really doesn’t take much, after all a believing Muslim is commanded to support shahidism.
The local Arab infantalism continues. Let’s be straight, when Abu Mazen (aka Abbas) says the Palestinian’s “resources are being usurped, our trees are being uprooted, our agriculture is being destroyed,” he is inferring that Israel’s very presence is disturbing the otherwise pristine state of the environment in the PA controlled areas. The fact that without Israel and outside money in the last 25 years, there would be no Arab agriculture in these areas is lost on the PA President. Remember, according to the PA narrative there is nothing the Arabs of the PA can do wrong. All problems stem from Israel’s existence, including the environment.
Turkey seems to live in an alternate dimension when it comes world affairs. The fact that conclusive proof exists that Turkey finances ISIS by reselling its oil and of course ensures steady flow of combatants through its South West border is of no consequence to Turkish leaders. Russia is leading an effort to force Turkey to change its ways, but of course that would mean giving up on Erdogan’s dream of being the first sultan in almost 100 years. The conflict continues to simmer, yet breakout to something much larger is no longer an “if” anymore, but has moved to a “when”.
Yinon Magal was brought into the Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) party by Naftali Bennett to put a less religious face on it. The party stalwarts had always been uneasy with Bennett for opening the party calling his move into question as it essentially erases the differences between Likud and Jewish Home. now they have fodder for the next leadership fight. It is no secret that Bennett believes his best shot to becoming PM is to merge his party with Likud and fight from within. This puts a small monkey wrench into that plan. Yet, despite that the new bill being proposed by Bibi to under the guidance of MK Levin to make it so the largest party automatically gets to form the government would almost guarantee a merger anyway. This would be out of fear of the Left rising to power over a fractured right wing.
Once again Europe misses the point. Islam = Jihadist ideology. The Koran espouses destruction of the unbelievers and dhimmitude of the “other people of the book.” Islam would have to essentially stop being Islam in order to be enlightened. It’s true there are sects like the Sufi’s who appear to be peaceful, but even they are easily fired up against the West: http://shoebat.com/2014/06/22/peaceful-muslim-sect-turned-fanatic/
At the end of the day, the World must come to a conclusion that it is really Islam itself that breeds violent hysteria into a way of life.
Just when we thought the “cycle of violence” was settling into a low flame reality, an Arab teen shot dead by security forces reignites tensions to a boiling point. Attacks had begun to be kept to Judea, Samaria, and “East Jerusalem,” but rage has a way of spilling back out into the rest of the country. Remember, that in most cases the security forces shoot Arab teens because they are in fact throwing rocks or Molotov cocktails. This is a prevalent past time in these neighborhoods.
The Israel Rising take: When the Prime Minister announces work on the long awaited Jewish State Law bill two questions come to mind? Why is he announcing this now and what does Israel need a Jewish State Law for? The PM always announces “right wing” statements when he feels pushed back by his own camp. Bibi believes in keeping the situation under management instead of finding solutions to challenges. His coalition has been shaky from the beginning and announcements like working on the Jewish State Law will keep those ministers that are to his right from bolting the coalition next time there is a crisis.
When the government denies transferring acres to Palestinians you can rest assured it had been on the table. The government will not transfer it because the coalition will be finished. Area C is rightfully part of Israel even according to the Oslo accords. transferring more land will not solve the conflict but rather give a prize to terror. Why a leak now? Like anything else in Israel, the opposition and the Arabs will try to trick the right into crashing the coalition due to emotions rather than at an opportune time.
Yaalon’s has tried to keep a lid on a full scale take down of the PA terror entity in Judea and Samaria due to a couple of considerations. The first is that he really doesn’t believe in our right to these areas other than for strategic reasons. The second is that wit all the chaos surrounding Israel, the IDF needs to be focused on the more “dangerous” geopolitical situation. Lastly, Yaalon is worried about a backlash te USA state department and would like to keep up his good relations with America. The above three points are keeping Jews in harms way.
Shai and I discuss the current security changes in Judea and Samaria. At the heart of the security situation is the fact that the government is not ready to fight Jihad at its core and that is with expelling those who are pushing violence.
We also cover the growing clash between Turkey and Russia and its broader context within the global arena and the conflict’s spiritual roots.
Don’t forget to check out this podcast’s sponsor: Root Source
In today’s podcast we cover what I call the Last War. Yesterday’s and today’s news headlines are rife with speculation that Turkey’s downing of a Russian fighter jet changed the nature of the Syrian conflict. It brings the regional and factional struggle to a new phase and will begin to destabilize not only Syria to a far more dangerous situation, but has ramifications for Israel and the entire world. This war has the potential to clear the deck so to speak.
We also interview David Ha’Ivri about his take on the security situation and what he feels needs to be done with many of the violent Arab terrorists and their supporters.
Since the attacks in Paris, much of the Western World has begun to realize that a great war has been underway and they were sleeping through it. This war between the Liberal West and Radical Islam is like no other war the World has experienced. It is not fought on traditional battlefields between armies, but rather the Army of Jihad fights everywhere. When in areas that are majority Muslim they fight with soldiers, but outside of their direct sphere of influence the Army of Jihad fights through the guise of Radical Islam. In places like Paris, where a burgeoning Muslim population exists, terror is the main weapon of choice. In these scenarios everyone is a combatant. For the Army of Jihad the woman and child of the infidel is an enemy combatant and in return their own soldiers are made up of women, children, and the old.
The West cannot understand why it is they are losing this war. They classify the heinous acts in Paris as “Terror,” which they are, but the leaders of the West fail to go deeper. Terror is really just a weapon that one army chooses to harness in a war. At the end of the day the Army of Jihad (whether that is ISIS, Hezbollah, Hamas, Al Qeida, etc.) employs any weapon that works to defeat the enemy. The West still believes this war is about uplifting the masses of Muslims from abject poverty and then they will pacify. Well that has not happened.
To understand what the Army of Jihad wants we must understand the concepts within Islam of Dar al-Islam and Dar al-Harb (Abode of Islam and Abode of War). Dar al-Islam refers to areas of the world under the rule of Islam , literally, “the home of Islam” or “the home of submission.” Many Muslims also attach past conquests to this abode as well. That would include Spain and much of Hungary and Southeast Europe. These areas must be reconquered.
Dar al-Harb refers to the Abode of War. The inhabitants of the Dar al-Harb are called harbi as opposed to dhimmi or kufr (non-believers, pagans). These areas must be cleansed by war and reassigned under Dar al-Islam. Pay attention, Christians and Jews can live if they accept second-class citizenship. This does not refer to the West where Islam is not in control. The West, Far East, and Africa are all under Dar al-Harb because Muslims are not in control of these places.
According to Prof. Muhammad Ishaq Zahid, “Dar al-Harb (Domain of War) refers to the territory under the hegemony of unbelievers, which is on terms of active or potential belligerency with the Domain of Islam, and presumably hostile to the Muslims living in its domain.”
The above is key to understanding why the Army of Jihad, through its ideology of Radical Islam, wages war on all levels with the West in particular and the rest of the World in general.
The Army of Jihad sees the West as broken down into Dar al-Harb (after all these countries are potentially belligerent towards the lands of Dar al-Islam and where non-Muslims are in control of Muslims) and Dar al-Islam including areas under former Islamic rule like Spain, Israel, Nigeria, Hungary, the Balkans, and Bulgaria.
So why terror? Why is that a weapon so often used by the Army of Jihad? Simply put, all means must be put in the Army’s disposal to win. By enabling the attackers to see all non-combatants as really combatants there are no limits to who can be killed. Of course since Radical Islam as an ideology espouses a war where everyone of the enemy’s citizens are culpable because they strengthen the hold over Dar al-Harb and parts of Dar al-Islam they are no longer non-combatants.
Two terror attacks occurred on Friday, one in Paris and the other in Hebron Hills near Otniel. The press focused on Paris, but has failed to understand that its root really begins here in Israel. It is noted that a Red Crescent Ambulance failed to administer first aid to the victims of the terror attack in Israel. Why? Well after all these “settlers” are no longer deemed non-combatants, but rather part of the army of the “Occupation.” Men, women, and children are fair game in that case and so naturally why treat an enemy combatant in the middle of war. Furthermore, the medical crew inside the ambulance saw itself as a combatant (and after its actions it is) and by nature lent itself to helping the cause against the “Occupation.” Let me be clear here, the occupation has nothing to with Israel and politics, but rather occupation of Dar al-Islam. In that war, everything is fair game.
The faster the West understands what Israel has had to contend with for much of the last 100 years, the greater chance it has to change course and defeat the Army of Jihad. If not, Americans and Europeans will be wondering why ambulances are not stopping for their sick and wounded. By that time there is not much to be done as the Army of Jihad will have won.
I have been searching the words to write this piece much of last night. I still have not found them, but I promised myself I would write something. And yet how could one be expected to make sense of a father and son murdered on the way to a Shabbat Chatan days before his daughter’s/sister’s wedding. How does one make sense of two beloved residents of Kiryat Arba, Father, husband, and teacher and his son, a Magen David Adom volunteer, looking forward to accomplishing so much in his life, both gunned down in front of their family?
I could try to reiterate that these murders are due to the fact that the government deals lightly with an enemy population squatting in our midst. I can point out that many of these terror cells drive freely throughout Judea and Samaria. The government seems far more interested in being perceived as “moral” rather than protecting its citizens. Despite the veracity of the above points they do little to connect us to the events that have transpired.
For me the most recent murders are far more personal, too personal now to draw in the necessary government rebuke. That is for another article.
You see Rav Yaakov was our first grader’s Rebbe. He was the first person he and his friends saw when they got to school. Everyday since the start of the year, Rav Yaakov has been there. He was their first Rebbe. He was their first teacher of Torah.
Recently I went to a school event and when my son saw his Rav, his face beamed and made sure to bring me over to him. Rav Yaakov shook my hand, said hello, and gave me a smile that stayed with me. His smile was filled with that simple joy, which is timeless. It was that joy of Torah and Mitzvot that he transmitted to his students.
So how do you tell your son that he will never see his Rebbe again? How do you tell your 1st grader that arab murderers gunned his Rabbi and son down for no other reason than because they are Jewish?
Our son heard the news from us last night and processed it. In many ways kids are more resilient than we are. “Who is going to be there tomorrow?” he asked my wife. Our older son seemed to wonder the same thing. Rav Yaakov taught him two classes a week as well. The three of us decided to learn together. That was what Rav Yaakov would want us to do. We picked this week’s Torah portion to learn.
“And Yaakov left Beer Sheva…,” it began. Yaakov left. Rashi tells us that when a tzaddik leaves a place the people feel his absence.
Rav Yaakov Litman; father, husband, and yes Rebbe to countless students has left us, but despite his leaving his presence will remain with us forever.
