As much as the modern West owes much of its extraordinary achievements to ancient Athens and Rome, it owes at least as much to Jerusalem. The Quran too acknowledges Jews’ role in giving the world monotheism and such timeless ethical principles as the notion that “when a person kills another, it is as if he has killed all of humanity.” Ed Husain explains. (Video, 2 minutes.)

Why our modern world is not only inheritor of Athens and Rome, but #Jerusalem too. We explain how and why in the #storyofideas

لماذا لا يُعدّ عالمنا المعاصر وريثاً لأثينا وروما فحسب، بل و #القدس أيضاً.
نشرح في #قصة_الأفكار كيف ذلك ولماذا. pic.twitter.com/HF6BMkDZ4A

— Ed Husain (@Ed_Husain) December 9, 2020

On Friday, a Palestinian stabbed an Israeli police officer and was then shot by another officer after trying to grab his rifle. Commenting on the many similar instances of West Bank-based terror during the past several months, Amit Saar, a senior IDF intelligence officer, predicted that the violence will likely grow worse in the coming year. Yoni Ben Menachem explains the Islamic Republic’s role in fueling this wave of terrorism:

The escape of six terrorists from Gilboa prison in September 2021 was the catalyst for the establishment of new terrorist groups in the northern West Bank, according to senior Islamic Jihad officials. The initiative to establish new armed groups was undertaken by Palestinian Islamic Jihad in coordination with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, implementing the strategy of Qassem Suleimani—the commander of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards who was assassinated in Iraq by the U.S.—of using proxies to achieve the goals of expansion of the Iranian regime.

After arming Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza, Iran moved in the last year to support the new terrorist groups in the northern West Bank. Iran has been pouring money into the Islamic Jihad organization, which began to establish new armed groups under the name of “Battalions,” which also include terrorists from other organizations such as Fatah, Hamas, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. First, the “Jenin Battalion” was established in the city of Jenin, followed the “Nablus Battalion.”

Despite large-scale arrest operation by the IDF and the Shin Bet in the West Bank, Islamic Jihad continues to form new terrorist groups, including the “Tulkarem Battalion,” the “Tubas Battalion,” and the “Balata Battalion” in the Balata refugee camp.