When Israel Self-Destructs, Terrorists Help

Illustration: Amona demolition (Image credit: Avi Ohayon/Government Press Office of Israel)

Last Wednesday and Thursday were highly eventful in a very negative way. By putting the pieces together we're left with a clear message that when Israel self-immolates, it's enemies are eager to add fuel to the flames.

On Wednesday, Israel began destroying the town of Netiv Ha'avot in Judea. The destruction, which started with a carpentry shop belonging to the Aharonowitz family, was justified in court by Arab claims that several meters of six of the 17 homes slated for destruction are on private property. The practice of compensation, common everywhere but in Judea and Samaria, was thrown out the window. Likewise the government, which touts itself as "right-wing," made no effort to legalize the homes by making the land state land, or intervening in some other way.

In a twist of irony, this first blow of the destruction fell precisely on Nov. 29, 70 years to the day since the UN partition plan vote that paved the path for the establishment of the modern Jewish state in its ancient homeland. That the state is now "celebrating" this date by destroying the Jewish presence in its land is very telling, and gives clear expression to the warped policies in place.

Activist group Boomerang - Fighting For Israel has produced a stirring clip illustrating the plight of the residents in Netiv Ha'avot and elsewhere, including the recently destroyed town of Amona.

The message of all this symbolically timed self-destruction was not lost on the Arab terrorists, who responded by launching a flurry of attacks in rapid succession on Thursday, the very next day.

It started when Arab assailants committed a near lynching close to Qusra, an Arab town in Samaria, where a strikingly similar attack took place in January 2014. This time the victims were a group of boys out celebrating a Bar Mitzvah by taking a hike accompanied by two armed parents, with permission from the IDF. The Arabs stoned them with rocks, forcing them to take cover in a cave, and then stealing the handgun of one of the parents and attempting to rob the group before the other parent opened fire in self-defense, killing one of the attackers. Only by a miracle were none of the victims seriously hurt.

The Israeli army, which had diligently destroyed a Jewish home in Judea the previous morning, took an hour and a half to reach the scene of the potentially life threatening assault.

Later the same day in Gaza, terrorists quickly showed that even with Hamas' reconciliation with Fatah they are more than willing to take initiative and attack. The terrorists fired mortars at IDF soldiers, eliciting return fire on their posts. Mortars were among the most lethal of Hamas' arsenal in 2014 Operation Protective Edge, but fortunately none were hurt in the latest barrage.

But the worst of the uptick in foreign aggression following Israel's domestic aggression towards its own citizens came Thursday night, when Arab terrorists stabbed a 19-year-old Israeli soldier to death in the Negev city of Arad as he waited for a ride home to Tel Aviv.

Having murdered their victim and stolen his weapon, the terrorists successfully gave security forces the slip, and continue to elude the army as it hunts them down.

A clear message emerges when examining the sudden surge of Arab terror in Judea, Gaza, and Samaria, given that it came in a concentrated burst all precisely one day after Israel destroyed the home of Jewish pioneers reclaiming the land, and which left in its wake traumatized children, bloodied adults, and a murdered teen.

When Israel acts in contradiction to the path of reestablishing itself in its land - a path that was opened wide 70 years ago on Wednesday - disaster will follow. Extrapolating from this, when Israel does the opposite, and instead of harassing its loyal citizens starts implementing harsh punitive action against the terrorists and those who give them support and comfort, it will see unprecedented success.