JERUSALEM, Israel – Israeli security officials are predicting ongoing terror attacks to increase, and citizens caught in the middle want more support.
This year, terrorists have already murdered more than 34 Israelis. Most of these attacks have taken place in the West Bank, biblical Judea and Samaria.
The latest casualty was Cpl. Maxim Molchanov, 20, (posthumously promoted to Sergeant), an off-duty soldier who was killed in a ramming incident Thursday at a West Bank checkpoint near the city of Modiin. 6 others were wounded in the attack, including 3 soldiers.
In a recent briefing, Israeli Defense Forces Reserve Major General Israel Ziv told journalists, “We are facing something like around 200 alerts every day for terrorism. (In) intelligence radar, we have witnessed over 200 (attempts) of terror acts, and of course the rate of fatalities is the highest in the last few years.”
Ziv said those carrying out the attacks are mainly young people in their 20’s. He added that while they may not be part of organized terror groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, those groups are smuggling weapons, ammunition and money into Palestinian areas.
“This equipment finds itself (in) the hands of those youngsters and by the internet, they find all the instructions – how to carry (out) terror attacks, on vehicles or on the settlements or all kinds of options that they have. And it’s up to their decision to take the act,” he explained.
The lack of connection to a specific group makes it tougher for Israel to track planned attacks. Adding to this chaos is the growing weakness of the governing Palestinian Authority under its aging President Mahmoud Abbas.
“We see that they are more busy within themselves,” Ziv stated. “Most of them are corrupted. They’re dealing with personal businesses and personal issues, and they’re not running the cities and the situation in the streets.”
While Israel mounted a major military offensive in July, Jewish community leaders in Judea and Samaria are calling on their government to take stronger action.
Shlomo Ne’eman, head of the Yesha Council and the Gush Ezion Regional Council, told CBN News, “There’s a relationship here, as if each terror attack is a one-time event. They’re relating to terror like there’s an attack and then another attack and then another. It’s simply not right. We have here a full war here. We have a real threat, and we came here to say to our government that we demand we go to war. We want to win this war.”
The Samaria Regional Council leader, Yossi Dagan, repeated the appeal. “We demand that the government of Israel takes action against these terrorists like the U.S. and Britain would take action against terrorists that are firing rockets and shooting at women and children that travel on the roads.”
Many attacks are happening along Route 60, known as the Way of the biblical Patriarchs. Traveled by Abraham, Isaac and jacob, many of the Jewiish settlements –which much of the world considers illegal – are established there today.
Ne’man disagrees with the prevailing view at the United Nations. “We are building on the land that’s ours,” he said. “We aren’t confiscating land. We’re building in places that we bought, or that belong to the country. We are doing it according to the law.”
Ne’eman questions how foreign governments can try to stop Jews from building houses in biblical Judea.
“This thing is also giving a tailwind to terror and backs up the Palestinian Authority,” he insisted.
Council leader Israel Ganz called on the international community to shift its focus to helping fight the terrorism.
“We must fight with the terror, and we want to thank our friends (all over) the world that support fighting (terrorism) because we all know terror can start here and grow (all) over the world,” he said.
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