Published: 4 July 2023
Last updated: 5 March 2024
Since the War of Independence, the defence establishment has not faced a period as complex, dangerous and challenging as the current one.
The IDF, Shin Bet and the police are currently compelled to fight not only against external enemies but also simultaneously against internal threats to their institutional nature and functionality.
From June 20 to June 25, Israeli extremists perpetrated 28 violent attacks against Palestinian villages across the northern and central West Bank. One Palestinian was killed and 54 others were injured, while four Israeli citizens and one security officer were injured.
These included an attack by over 300 Israeli extremists on the Palestinian village of Turmus Aiya, northwest of Ramallah, on June 21; another rampage that evening in Orif, south of Nablus, against Palestinians, their property and other structures, including a school and a mosque; and more.
The Palestinian Authority has reported more Israeli settler violence toward Palestinians as tensions simmer in the West Bank, with Israeli settlers being accused of burning crops belonging to a local Palestinian in the village of at-Tawani, south of Hebron.
The situation has prompted the Defense Minister, the IDF chief, the heads of the Shin Bet and the Mossad and the Police Commissioner to unite and mobilise their forces not only toward combating Palestinian terrorism and Iranian subversion but also toward senior government ministers and their supporters who hold political and ideological agendas that clash with the objectives pursued by the IDF, Shin Bet and the police on the ground.
Security forces failed completely in their attempts to curb rampages, raising questions about how hard they really tried to quell the riots.
Central Command is talking about “crazy times” in the territories, the likes of which even veteran officers don’t recall. The number of warnings about potential terrorist attacks by Palestinians has significantly increased, and preparations for such attacks are now underway across the entire West Bank, spanning from Jenin in the north to Hebron in the south. Thanks to the precise intelligence gathered by the Shin Bet and extensive arrests, a significant number of terrorist attacks have been prevented.
