Inspired by Hamas, Not Directed by Hamas
A Palestinian woman from East Jerusalem today set off a gas balloon in her car just a few miles outside of Jerusalem, when she was stopped by a policeman who stopped her for a security check when she appeared to be driving erratically. Police said that when the officer approached the car, she said, “Allahu Akbar” and set off the explosion, slightly wounding the police officer and seriously wounding herself.
Israeli media reported that the woman, 31, had handwritten notes supporting martyrs on her, and that she had been planning an attack in the center of Jerusalem. Because she was a resident of east Jerusalem, she carried a blue ID card, the same as that held by Israeli Jews, which allowed her freedom of movement.
There is concern that the attack could be a new stage in the series of stabbing attacks that have killed four Israelis in the past ten days and wounded about a dozen others. Israeli experts agree that the attackers are acting individually and not being organized by Hamas or any other group.
“They are lone wolves,” Reuven Ehrlich, the Head of the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies, Israel told The Media Line. “They are getting inspiration from Hamas and other organizations that are systematically inciting and calling to launch such attacks, but they are not being handled by Hamas.”
The weapons they are using are primarily kitchen knives or in one case, a vegetable peeler.
Ehrlich said that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has repeatedly called for “popular resistance” and has encouraged these types of attacks. He said that each successful attack inspires others.
“It is very difficult to do something against a youngster that this morning decided to get up and stab a Jew,” Ehrlich said. “I don’t think the intelligence services and the government can do a lot but they have enacted some preventative measures and are trying to calm the situation on the Temple Mount,” he said, referring to the site that Muslims call the Haram al-Sharif and that is holy to both religions.”
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu today said the government will enact minimum sentences for Palestinian stone throwers. He also asked the Attorney General to open a criminal probe into Joint List MK Haneen Zouabi who called for “popular resistance.”
The demonstrations have spread into Arab cities in Israel, and the Arab Israeli sector has called for a general strike this week.
Other analysts say that social media such as Facebook and Twitter play a role in encouraging more attacks.
“These are mostly young men who are moved by the media to take a knife and go out and stab somebody,” Joseph Alpher, an Israeli analyst and former senior Mossad official told The Media Line. “There’s no clear chain of command of any sort.”
Like Ehrlich he said that makes it difficult to stop these attacks, although moves like increasing the number of police and installing metal detectors could help. He also said that what happens in the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by Hamas, could also be important.
At least 11 Palestinians were killed this weekend when Palestinians stormed the fence between Gaza and Israel, and Israeli troops opened fire. Several of the dead were young teenagers.
Alpher said that Netanyahu’s decision to prohibit all parliamentarians from visiting the holy site in order to calm tensions was a constructive move.
“To the extent that the motivation is the message that al-Aqsa is in danger it would seem to be logical that de-escalating al-Aqsa over time could de-escalate these lone wolf attacks,” he said.
He said he believed that the reason for the attacks now is a combination of external factors such as the Islamic State, along with the “total absence of any prospect for a peace process,” and “faltering leadership” by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.