On Saturday, the eighteen-year-old Israeli soldier Noa Lazar was shot dead at a checkpoint in eastern Jerusalem. Another soldier, Ido Baruch, was killed on Tuesday. Although Hamas “blessed” the first attack, it did not claim responsibility for it; meanwhile, the Shin Bet broke up one of the group’s West Bank cells yesterday. Ron Ben-Yishai puts these attacks in the context of a seven-month-long wave of terrorism, fueled by social media and declining faith in both the established terrorist groups and the Palestinian Authority:
Saturday’s terror attack matches what came to be known as the “TikTok intifada.” Most of the attacks in recent weeks were carried out by Palestinians aged thirty and younger and primarily targeted Israeli security forces.
The Lions’ Den, a new Palestinian terror group is an example. Several local young criminals obtained firearms, carried out attacks, and became a source of inspiration and imitation to other young Palestinians. And when interrogated by Shin Bet, they often admit they didn’t act out of ideological, political, or religious motives, but rather from the desire to become social-media stars.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad are not leading the ongoing terror wave; instead, they incite and fund it directly and indirectly, while sitting on the sidelines and enjoying the fruits of terror.
Unlike previous escalations in the West Bank, flooding the region with IDF soldiers won’t dispirit the Palestinian youth from carrying out attacks. . . . On the other hand, there is some truth to the claim that if the IDF were to halt its daily operations and nighttime raids, Palestinian militants—who have already experienced clashes with security forces—will not lay down their weapons. Instead, they will seek confrontation with Israeli security forces in other places, such as checkpoints, the West Bank border barrier, and other flashpoints.
Read more on Ynet: https://www.ynetnews.com/article/bjjwg8emj