What Happens After the Jerusalem Attack?
Israel’s new national religious government has proposed some harsh responses to the Jerusalem synagogue attack. But what counts are the results.
Israel Today
Palestinians celebrate in Gaza City after a Palestinian gunman opened fire outside the east Jerusalem synagogueThis past weekend I was out in the desert with our Dutch group and we had no cellphone reception for three days. When I left the desert on Saturday night, my phone exploded with messages as soon as it got back online. Bloody attack in Jerusalem after Shabbat dinner in a synagogue. Seven dead and 10 injured. The next morning, in the biblical City of David below the Dung Gate, a 13-year-old Palestinian boy and terrorist attacked Jewish worshipers with a pistol. An off-duty Israeli paratrooper reacted with lightning speed and neutralized the Palestinian boy with his service weapon.
We didn’t hear anything in the desert. It was wonderful being disconnected. But that made it all the more shocking to suddenly be flooded with bad news as we reached the edge of civilization. And that left a deep impression on me. Sometimes it’s good not to hear anything bad and not to know anything. Living in a bubble is nice as long as it doesn’t explode. But yesterday, just after Shabbat ended, it blew up on me. What really annoyed me were the reports from Arabic channels, which sent me photos and videos of Palestinians celebrating the Jewish victims with sweets and other delicacies after the attack in Jerusalem. They glorified their heroes who murdered children and women with music. In addition, they have compared the attacks to Israel’s operation in Jenin a few days ago, which killed nine armed Palestinians, what we call terrorists.
Palestinians burn tires and celebrate in Gaza City after a gunman opened fire outside the east Jerusalem synagogue
The new government in Jerusalem must now intervene, harder, more effectively and faster. It promised Israelis that it would do so, and that is what is expected of a national religious coalition in Zion. When the security cabinet met in Jerusalem on Saturday night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the public not to take the law into their own hands. “Our response will be strong, quick and precise. Whoever tries to harm us – we will harm them and anyone who helps them. We are not looking for an escalation, but we are prepared for any scenario,” Netanyahu said. “We are not in the days of the Jewish underground. We have our own country with an excellent army, government and security forces.”
The Israeli security forces are in full readiness because the combination of social media and readily available weapons among the Palestinians make such terrorist attacks easy to carry out. In the Palestinian media, children and young people are incited to sacrifice their lives for Allah. All they need are two things: a gun and Jewish targets. Both are easy to find. It is almost impossible for the Israeli security service to find these loners early because they are not affiliated with any official terrorist organization. Only afterwards does one read on their Facebook pages how much they praised death and wanted to die as martyrs.
There is disagreement in the governing coalition as to how Israel should react to the “Black Sabbath.” Mild as always, or harder this time? Of course, patriotic ministers like Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich want tough action against Palestinian terror. But how? What can the new government do more than the previous ones? Nothing! Most agree on that. Nevertheless, new ideas are being put on the government table. Netanyahu at Sunday’s cabinet meeting: stated “We will discuss the possibilities of not only denying Palestinian terrorists from Jerusalem their identity cards, but also revoking the residency of their families. It’s a dramatic decision.”
Fun Fact: Arab residents of Jerusalem are not like the rest of Israel’s Arabs. They are not citizens, but rather have permanent resident status in the capital’s Arab neighborhoods. They may vote in municipal elections, but not in national Knesset elections.
In addition, Ben-Gvir called for a new formula at today’s cabinet meeting. For seven deaths, we will authorize seven new settlements in the biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria. Within a week, seven new sites in Judea and Samaria for Jewish settlements are to be proposed. Ben-Gvir: “We have to adopt a package of deterrent measures, strategic measures and political measures.” Expect that approach to garner more criticism from Europe and Washington than even the Palestinians themselves. The West doesn’t seem to understand the connection. From their point of view the Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria are the reason for the Palestinian terrorist attacks. Meanwhile in Israel, we are all curious to see whether our new national-religious governing coalition will redeem the people from Palestinian terror. They’ve put forward some harsh proposals, but what counts are the results.
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