Making Sense Of The Jenin Raid

People sit in front of a damaged building in the occupied West Bank Jenin refugee camp on July 6, 2023, following a large-scale Israeli military operation that lasted for two days. The Israeli military launched the raid on the Jenin refugee camp early on July 3, during which 12 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier were killed. PHOTO BY ZAIN JAAFAR/GETTY IMAGES 

However, he did not note that the reason the IDF was there was because terrorists deliberately located themselves in the heart of this area.

Harel also suggested a sort of “tit for tat” aspect to the Palestinian response: “There was a stabbing attack in Bnei Brak and a vehicular ramming and stabbing attack in Tel Aviv.”

Indeed, the headline of the piece was “Macabre Dance will Persist.”

So, for Harel this is a “dance.” Palestinian terrorists attempt to kill Israeli civilians while burrowed in among their own civilians—two war crimes in one—and this is the same thing as the IDF’s attempt to eliminate the source of this terror.

Harel is not alone in his view. As you watch and read media coverage of the Jenin raid—especially in The Financial Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post, the BBC and Al Jazeera—remember that this is not Israel’s first incursion into Jenin.

Here is what that “ethos of defiance” has cost in terms of Israeli civilian lives since January: Twenty-four citizens and one worker from Gaza between six and 80 years of age, including two children under 10, five teens and four people over 50. Seven at bus stops or gas stations and seven others while driving. Seven leaving a Shabbat service. Two walking in Tel Aviv. One in her apartment and one working in a field.

Israeli soldiers gather at a checkpoint near Nablus in the occupied West Bank where a Palestinian who shot at Israeli troops on November 4, 2020 was killed when soldiers returned fire, Israel’s army said. Israel’s military operation in Jenin has ended and the IDF has withdrawn from the Palestinian town. Even Haaretz journalist Amos Harel almost acknowledged that Israel avoided Palestinian civilian casualties, although the IDF entered a densely populated area of the city. PHOTO BY JAAFAR ASHTIYEH/GETTY IMAGES 

But a BBC news anchor told former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett that “the Israeli forces are happy to kill children.” The BBC later issued a watery apology, saying, “The language used in this line of questioning was not phrased well and was inappropriate.”

Abbas hasn’t had control of Judea and Samaria for a long time. Israel knows it and Iran knows it. The battle in these areas is over who will control what when Abbas passes.

Two things can help turn the tide in Israel’s favor and benefit Palestinians who want security, economic advancement and peaceful coexistence—if not peace.

First, a strong statement of support for Israel’s right to self-defense by the United States. Second, Palestinian parents standing up for themselves and their children by refusing to be used as human shields or fodder for Palestinian terrorist organizations.

So, after Jenin 2023, Israel will do what it must do to protect its citizens, but the job would be done better if the Palestinians themselves decide to protect their children and build a better future.

 

Produced in association with Jewish News Syndicate