Key Developments (Nov 21 – 28)
- Jerusalem bombing operations kill 2 Israelis, injure dozens more.
- 3 martyrs killed in ongoing Israeli military campaign against strongholds of Palestinian armed resistance.
In-Depth
This week was far from quiet. Three Palestinians were killed in Nablus as part of Israel’s ongoing “Break the Wave” campaign, and a twin bombing of two bus stations in Jerusalem killed two Israelis and injured dozens more. Yet the expected Israeli crackdown and wave of arrests following the operation is yet to occur. In a way, the Israeli governmental and military response has lagged behind the panic and rage gripping the Israeli political spectrum, which is out for blood.
Itamar Ben Gvir, who is expected to become National Security Minister in Israel, wasted no time in capitalizing on the operation, demanding that Israel exact a “heavy price from terror” and re-invade Palestinian towns and cities, while proposing the institution of draconian measures of collective punishment against Palestinian society, alongside a return to targeted assassinations.
That no news has been forthcoming about the perpetrators of the operation could mean anything — that the Israeli intelligence simply has not found those responsible, or that it has found a lead but is maintaining a gag order for its own security reasons, perhaps seeking to uncover a wider network or organized cell. Either way, the silence from the security establishment only raises expectations about when the inevitable crackdown is likely to begin. One thing is for certain — it will punish as many Palestinians as possible in order to restore Israeli “deterrence,” since collective punishment has ever been a favored tactic in the arsenal of Israeli colonial domination. Already Ben Gvir has promised immunity to Israeli soldiers who kill Palestinians, and his upcoming role as National Security Minister is likely to see him oversee the formation of his own fascist army.
Despite the Israeli security establishment’s relative silence, analysis from Israeli political pundits echoes what the establishment is no doubt thinking—that these bombings, despite the comparatively lower casualties than a more recent string of stabbing and ramming “lone wolf” attacks that claimed the lives of 3 Israelis, is worrying for the Shin Bet because the bombs were reportedly relatively sophisticated, having apparently been detonated remotely. Public claims that it was carried out by an “organized infrastructure” has stoked fears that there will be a return to a barely-forgotten era of bombings from the Second Intifada that has left a scar in the Israeli collective psyche.
But the perception that these bombings are unprecedented is somewhat misleading. Even if one were to avoid comparing them to the operations conducted by Palestinians over the past year, in the summer of 2019 an organized cell of purported PFLP militants had successfully remotely detonated an explosive that killed an Israeli, known as the Ein Bubin operation. Like with the Jerusalem bombing, the Israeli military and the intelligence abided by a gag order as it silently launched its manhunt. When the cell was uncovered, apprehended, and summarily tortured, that was when the true crackdown would begin. Hundreds of arrests ensued, detaining anyone with any association, proven or fabricated, with the PFLP.
Nothing less than an equally extensive campaign of arrests should be expected from the army now. We are merely waiting, before the calm inevitably gives way to the storm.
Important figures
- 202 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in 2022.
Mondoweiss Highlights
Jerusalem’s last decade of revolt, by Fayrouz Sharqawi
